Only One
by Jewelgirl04
Summary: After showing her true self to the one who matters most, Becky's ready to take the WWE by storm... and take over the crown of her older sister. Cody X OC/Jeff X OC *Sequel to Fascinating New Thing*
1. Rescued

A thin smile crossed Becky's lips as she entered the dressing room she shared with her sister.

Charlie stood there, with her perfect blonde curls and slightly angry blue eyes, her hands on her hips, and scowled at her sister, "Where the hell have you been the last two weeks?"

_Let's see…_

_I've been to the Phillips Arena._

_I've been to the Atlanta Hilton._

_I've been to Marietta, Georgia._

_I've been to Cody's house._

_I've been to Cody's parents' house._

_I've been to Cody's grandparent's house…_

"Around," the raven-haired sister shrugged and attempted to hide her grin as she placed her black duffel bag down on a table.

"Well," the blonde beauty ground her teeth and turned away from Becky, fixing her makeup in the well-lit mirror, "No matter. I'm expecting Randy any moment, so you're just going to have to make yourself scarce."

Becky let out a deep sigh as she applied her sheer lip gloss, "I always do."

Charlie groaned in disgust as she glanced over from her reflection, "Honestly, I don't know how you can reapply that crap when you've got that stupid thing hanging from your lip. It probably gets all over it and shit…"

"What thing?" she arched an eyebrow and swiveled her head towards Charlie.

"You got rid of it," she smirked back. "Well, what do you know, little sister? You do have some fashion sense after all."

The younger woman rolled her eyes in response, "Whatever, Charlie."

"Speaking of fashion… I have to show you something hysterical," Charlie fanned a hand at Becky and turned to her wheelie suitcase, pulling what looked like a dead animal from it.

"What the hell is that…?"

"It's called a wig, _Rebecca_," it was now Charlie's turn to roll her eyes. "I got it to wear for Randy…"

"Well, if that's what you're into…" Becky shook her head vehemently trying to shake the searing image from her brain.

"Don't be such a party pooper," Charlie laughed and fixed the wig on top of her head before turning to her sister, "Look, I'm you!"

_If you were a drag queen…_

"Yeah… look at that," she remarked, completely disinterested.

A knock sounded on the door, causing Charlie to smile.

"Hurry up, Becky!" she ordered her sister. "That must be Randy…" she trailed off and walked to the door.

Charlie reached for the doorknob and pulled it, but was surprised when she didn't stare up into the blue eyes of Randy Orton. Instead, she was met with the sapphire orbs of Cody Runnels.

"Oh, Cody…" she trailed off from the door, eliciting a small smile behind her back from Becky. "What a surprise!"

"Um, hi," he smiled sheepishly, "Is your sister here?"

"Oh, you're so silly, Cody," she giggled flirtatiously and lightly tapped him on the chest. "It's just a wig," she added, pulling the mop of black hair from her head and holding it up for him to see. "I'm Charlie."

Cody was clearly growing more uncomfortable by the second, "I'm, uh…"

The raven-haired girl hidden on the other side of the room bit her lip near the point of drawing blood.

He cleared his throat and spoke louder, "I'm actually looking for Becky."

"Becky?" her voice dropped, as did the wig to the floor. "Why the hell are you looking for her?"

"Because he wants to see me," Becky informed her still-stunned older sister, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder, and pushing past her into the hallway.

"Hey," Cody grinned boyishly at her. "I figured I'd find you here. I came to rescue you."

Rebecca let out a slight chuckle, "What took you so long?"

"Sorry," he looked down at his sneakers. "I hit traffic."

"It's okay, Cody," she assured him as Charlie still stood in the doorway, open mouthed.

"You got everything?" he asked her, taking the duffel bag off of her arm.

"Mhmm…" she nodded and began walking with Cody down the hallway, where she was steadily approaching the one and only Legend Killer.

"Runnels…," Orton addressed the younger man and glanced at the girl to his right. "Becky?!?" he stopped dead in his tracks, almost not recognizing the girl beside him.

The old Rebecca West wore a lip ring, black jeans, black tanks, combat boots, and so much eyeliner and mascara, one would think that it never even washed off at night. The old Rebecca West straightened her hair to the point where it was a straight as a popsicle stick and limply hung a few inches below her shoulders.

However, with a new haircut that left her voluminous hair flipped up just above her shoulders, and wearing ripped jeans, a vintage Led Zeppelin tee shirt, royal blue Converse shoes, and makeup so natural, one would think that her lips were always just that glossy, Randy Orton barely recognized the new, true Rebecca West.

"Orton," she reached up and patted him lightly on the arm, before turning back to glance at her sister. "She's all yours."

* * *

"My match is next," Cody announced, turning around to face his girlfriend in black trunks with his initials on the side in gold. "Do you want to stay back here?" 

"Not really," Becky shook her head and handed him the Tag Team Title Belt.

He extended his right hand to her, "Then come out there with me."

"Are you sure?" she looked at his hand and then back at his eyes.

"I'm sure," he answered flatly.

"And Bob won't mind?"

"I wouldn't care if he did," he shrugged as he took her hand and laced their fingers.

"Oh, Mr. Runnels," she said in a dreamy, yet sarcastic voice. "How Randy Orton of you."

"Come on," he rolled his eyes as they made their way through the door.

* * *

"About damn time you showed up," the platinum blonde man remarked from the gorilla position. 

"Sorry," Cody apologized and looked over at the girl on his arm, "I had some business to take care of."

"A valet? Way to keep your head in the game, kid," Bob replied with a sarcastic smile. "You're uh… you're Charlie the Bitch's sister, aren't ya?"

Becky chuckled and nodded, extending a hand, "Becky West. Nice to officially meet you, Mr. Holly."

"Mr. Holly," he raised his eyebrows as he shook her hand. "I'm impressed… are you sure you two are sisters?"

"Unfortunately."

Bob let out a chuckle, "I like this girl. You know what… fuck it. You can valet for us any day."

"I'd like that," she nodded with a smile. "Thank you."

"Good," Holly nodded and began walking to the curtain as their music began to play. "Oh," he turned back towards them, "And Becky?"

"Yeah?" she tilted her head to the side as she stopped and nearly bumped into Cody.

"Call me Bob."

* * *

"Ladies and gentleman…" Lillian Garcia boomed loudly into her microphone. "Your winners, and still World Tag Team Champions, Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes!" 

Becky beamed proudly as she raised the much taller men's hands up in victory, just about as far as she could reach.

Quite frankly, no one was really surprised that the two had beaten the Highlanders. In fact, no one had actually thought it would have been that easy.

Out of nowhere, however, Cade and Murdoch crashed the victory party and took down both Cody and Holly, as Becky scampered to the outside to avoid injury.

"Cody!" she screamed, trying to reach for her boyfriend under the bottom rope.

But she couldn't reach him, no matter how hard she tried. Writhing in pain on the mat, Cody was being blocked off by the steel chair-toting Trevor Murdoch and his massively disgusting sideburns.

"Can't help your pretty boyfriend now, can you there, darlin'?" he continued to taunt her and added a steel chair smash to his ribs to make his point.

Murdoch raised the chair high above his head and looked to his partner, Lance Cade, who mimicked his movements over Bob Holly.

"You think you can take the tag titles from us?" Lance stood over both bodies, a microphone in his hand. "It was a fluke. Just like your careers… a fluke. You got lucky."

"Yeah, lucky," Trevor echoed as both smashed down the chairs onto their rivals' heads. "See? We work well as a team."

"And what do you two do?" Cade smirked again, leaning on the steel chair digging into the mat, leaving an imprint of blood. "Parade around with the gold on your shoulder, in your little tights? And now you've got a girl with you?"

"Yee haw, Lance," Murdoch laughed as he added another smash on Cody's head for good measure, drawing far more blood than Holly had lost. "That makes a pair of champs if I ever heard it!"

By this point, Becky was frozen on her knees, holding on to the ring apron for dear life. Bob was bleeding from the head, but it looked like the cut had just opened on the last chair shot. Cody, on the other hand, was coated in his blood.

Hell, Becky didn't even know if he could see past the crimson liquid flowing freely down his face.

"Cody," she whispered sadly, and shifted her knee, knocking into something underneath the ring.

With a quizzical look on her face, and the hicks in the ring no longer paying her any attention at all, she reached under the apron and found the object she had just bumped into herself.

A Singapore cane.

Rising to her feet, and clutching the long cane in her right hand, Becky quickly glanced at the pair. Murdoch and Cade were leaning on the ropes, making fun of Jerry "The King" Lawler, whom had stood to try and stop the beating taking place.

Seeing the only opportunity she'd most likely have, Becky managed to calm her jelly legs for a moment, long enough to slide into the ring lightly and undetected. She twirled the Singapore cane in her hand as the crowd came to their feet.

_Turn around. Turn the fuck around._

Lance wheeled around to see the reason for the crowd's excitement and turned face first into the stick being forcefully swung by Becky. Almost immediately, he dropped to his knees and rolled out of the ring, as it was now his turn to writhe in pain on the ground.

Lucky, the stick hadn't broken and as Murdoch turned around, he came into contact with the cane, as well, which shattered upon contact with his face, drawing blood. Immediately, he dropped to the mat and rolled out to join his partner on the floor outside the ring.

For a moment, Becky stood in the ring and pulled her black locks away from her face, surveying the carnage that around the ring. Four men all lay in the immediate vicinity of her, all bleeding profusely, leaving their crimson stains all over the mat. She might as well have been holding a chainsaw.

Finally shaking the awe from her mind, she dropped to her knees beside Cody and placed a hand on his shoulder, rocking him slightly, a groan escaping from his lips.

"Cody," her hand steadied as she silently plead for him to open his eyes.

His blue eyes fluttered open, "B-Becky?"

"Yeah, it's me," she nodded and rubbed her hand lightly along his bicep, dragging blood with her, "I'm here."

"Get out of here," he moaned slightly, still in an immense amount of pain. "They'll hurt you too."

"I'm fine," Becky shook her head as Bob Holly stirred next to her, also beginning to come to his senses.

"Hey, kid," Holly sat up warily. "You okay?"

Cody let out a grunt as he tried to join him, but failed, "Is that a trick question?"

"Maybe," he reached up and pressed a hand to his own forehead, which returned with some blood on it. "Aww… hell."

"Are they gone?" he asked his girlfriend, his eyes widening to a little more than the slits they were before.

"Hell yeah, man," Bob exclaimed. "Your girlfriend kicked the shit out of them with a Singapore cane."

For the first time, a slight chuckle escaped the young man's lips, "Damn, Rebecca."

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Becky didn't even mind hearing her full name. In fact, from the bloodied lips of Cody Runnels, it actually sounded nice.

"Remind me not to piss her off, kid," Bob stated, finally getting to his knees beside their valet.

"Don't worry, man," Cody blinked as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, "She'll just clean your house."

Becky shook her head at him and smiled incredulously, "You're lucky you're hurt… or I'd smack you for that one."

"Oh yeah," he rolled his eyes. "I'm so lucky that I'm bleeding profusely from the head."

"I can add to that, if you'd like…"

"Okay now, kids," Bob cut them off and stood up cautiously. "I think you're alright to get up now, Cody."

"I'll try it," he nodded and his tag partner and girlfriend helped him to his feet. "Whoa… stop spinning, guys."

"Seriously," the blonde man shook his head, trying to rid himself of the double image of Cody in front of him. "You and your twin brother need to stop jumping around."

"Christ, you two," Becky shook her head at the two of them sadly. "Bob, you okay to walk on your own?"

"Just because I can see two of everything, doesn't mean I can't walk a straight line."

"I'll take that as a yes, then," she let out a slightly chuckle and turned to Cody, who was leaning on the ring post. "How about you?"

"Maybe…" he trailed off, attempting to take a step forward and nearly falling, "Not."

"Come on," she grabbed his arm, about seven inches above her own, and moved to place it over her shoulder, when Cody pulled away. "What?"

"I don't want to get blood all over you."

"Cody," Becky scoffed at him, "I just attacked Cade and Murdoch with a freaking Singapore cane. Do you think I care about blood?"

"No, it's just that... it'll ruin your clothes," he looked down at his feet sheepishly.

"Cody Garrett Runnels," Becky stared at him as he looked up and locked eyes with her, "I can replace any stupid shirt or pair of jeans I own… I can't replace you."

* * *

Becky sat in the lobby of the Emergency Room, nervously tapping her foot and picking at her fingernails. Hospitals had always made her uncomfortable and waiting for Cody was absolute hell. 

A slight laugh passed through her lips, realizing what she must appear like to everyone else. Her faded Led Zeppelin shirt was tie-dyed with scarlet and she was pretty sure that some blood had gotten on her jeans, whose blood, though, she couldn't be certain of.

A blonde nurse in her mid fifties approached her in the somewhat empty waiting room, which only held three other people, "Miss West, do you want to go wash up?"

Becky chewed on her lower lip and looked down at her blood-caked forearms, "I promised Cody that I'd be here when the doctor was finished."

"Oh, alright," the nurse nodded. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," the raven-haired woman replied with a nod of her own and let out a small chuckle. "I'm sorry, I know I probably look like a victim of a drive-by."

"It's fine," she replied understandingly. "As long as you really aren't."

"Excuse me," a deep male voice interred, drawing both women's attention to the man at the head of the waiting room. "Is there a Becky West here?"

"That's me," Becky announced and rose to her feet.

"Mr. Runnels is asking for you," the tall man, with graying temples informed her, tucking a chart under his arm. "They're just finishing stitching him up. He's in room 104."

"Thank you," she smiled politely at him as he retreated back towards the examination rooms and then turned back to the nurse. "I'll take it he's heading for the same row of rooms?"

"Yes, he is."

"Thank you," Becky replied and headed off in the direction the doctor had just walked.

She traveled down the long hallway, which oddly enough, began with room 126 and work its way backwards.

Approaching the nurses' station at the end of the corridor, the numbers dropped into the low hundreds. Silently, she began counting down in her head.

_110. 108. 106. 104…_

Stopping at the doorway, she peered inside and knocked on the wide open door.

There was a doctor at the head of the examination table, where Cody was sitting, and he turned away from him to see who was at the door.

"Ahh," he acknowledged, reaching a dark-skinned hand up to continue his handiwork on his patient's skull, "You must be the infamous Ms. West."

"That's me," Becky asserted, entering the room.

"I've heard some good things about you," the doctor added. "Although, I don't remember Cody here telling me that you shared his passion for blood."

"Well, I must say," she laughed as she approached the table, "He didn't share that with me until tonight either. This is _his_ blood."

"Good, God, Cody," he shook his head, putting the finishing touches up on the nearly-closed cut. "You didn't tell me you were in a shoot out."

Cody grumbled, his eyes slightly darkening, "It's looks worse than it actually is."

The doctor chuckled and disposed of both the needle and gauze before pulling off his gloves and disposing of those, as well, "It always is, Cody. It always is. You're free to go."

"Thanks, Dr. Roberts," he shook the man's hand and hopped down from the table. "I appreciate it."

"It's no problem, kid," the doctor assured his patient. "Just do me a favor… don't go and jump off any ladders any time soon."

"It was a chair…" Cody tried to counter as Dr. Roberts headed for the door.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Runnels. Whatever you say."

* * *

"Well, you look like hell." 

"Um… thanks, Charlie," Becky furrowed her eyebrows as she entered the hotel room she was sharing with her older sister. "You look nice too."

"What did you do, Rebecca?" her sister scanned her from head to toe with her blue eyes. "Get shot?"

"Yep… I died and now I'm a ghost. Boo."

"That's not funny, Rebecca," Charlie sniped at her younger sister.

"I don't really care. You're the one standing here in a black wig and skin treatment on your face that makes you look like the Wicked Witch of the West, not me," she retorted with a sarcastic smile and then shuffled through her rolling suitcase to find a new pair of clothes.

"You wish you looked this good," the older woman boasted, admiring her freshly manicured fingernails as her sister disappeared into the bathroom.

"Please," Becky rolled her eyes on the other side of the door, turning on the water. "I think I'll pass."

"Oh come on," Charlie continued as the water stopped. "You and I BOTH know that the only reason that little Cody hangs around is me. He's just using _you_ to get to _me_."

The door opened and Becky stepped out without a trace of blood on her, in a pair of dark blue jeans, a studded belt, and an AC/DC tee, her destroyed clothing balled up in her left hand.

"Right, because I'm sure he appreciated that whole 'it's me, silly' dumb blonde routine you put on earlier in the day," she rolled her eyes noticeably, this time in clear view of her sister.

"Whatever you say, Rebecca…" Charlie shrugged and sat up on the bed. "But when the room's a rockin'… don't come a knocking."

Becky shuttered, "You disgust me sometimes, you know that?"

"Don't care," she flashed a forced grin across the room.

"Bitch," her sister muttered and chuckled the crumpled up clothing into the wastebasket beside the table.

"Um… what do you think you're doing?" Charlie's eyes widened.

"What are you talking about?" she looked at Charlie like she had ten heads.

"You just threw away those clothes! They were vintage!" she exclaimed, completely appalled by what was taking place.

"They were bloodstained. I can buy another set," Becky shrugged and zipped her suitcase shut.

"Alright, I've had enough of this crap," Charlie huffed and stood up from her bed.

"Charlie," her sister closed her eyes and shook her head, her black locks traveling with her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You!" she yelled in frustration. "Before, I put up with this crap, figuring you'd grow out of it. I figured… so what if she's the ugly duckling, she'll turn into the swan eventually, right? So I ignored the crispy hair that looked like you baked it in an oven… and even the lip ring that looked like you had a noodle stuck through your mouth. Hell, I even ignored the eyeliner that went from here to Tallahassee," Charlie threw her hands up in the air and let them drop to her sides. "And then you came in here today, in your little vintage tee and ripped jeans and you gave me a little hope, but you shot that one to hell too, didn't you, Rebecca?"

Becky stood there biting her lip as her sister raved on.

"God, what _did_ you do all of those nights alone at home in high school? Couldn't you have at least watched a fashion show… or God forbid, two?" she placed her hands firmly on her hips. "But no… just when I think you've turned a corner, you go and get blood all over yourself in the ring. What were you doing, Rebecca? Finger painting with it?!?"

The younger woman tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for the rant to cease.

"And now you just toss the clothes in the garbage like they were nothing, of no cost, of no consequence. Shirts like that aren't a dime a dozen…"

"They're replaceable," Becky shrugged, growing intolerant of her sister's rampage.

"No, Rebecca," Charlie countered, taking two steps towards her sister, who was standing in front of the door. "That's where you're wrong. Goldfish are replaceable, spoiled milk is replaceable… hell, boyfriends are replaceable. Couture is NOT REPLACEABLE!"

"Wow," Becky shook her head in absolutely astonishment. "How can a girl who has so much going for her be so empty-headed?"

"At least I am my own person!" the older woman exclaimed with an arched eyebrow. "The lip ring, the hair, the clothes… not a single thing about you is even _close_ to original!"

"Oh what?" the black-haired girl laughed. "And you are? How many boob jobs have you had now, Charlie? Two… three?"

"One."

"Oh… right," she played into her sister. "My bad. Oh wait a second… I forgot. You're a blonde. You don't always remember anything anyway. Woops. You're not even a natural blonde either. Whose the original one, now, _Charlotte_? Ha… you can't even go by your birth name, you're so fake."

"That's it!" Charlie screamed, charging at her sister, when a knock on the door sounded, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Oh," Becky feigned surprise and picked up her suitcase and duffel bag. "That must be Cody," she smiled at her sister, sarcasm dripping off her every word like sap from a tree, and opened the door.

"Hey, Becky," the blue-eyed, six feet, once inch tall piece of muscle that was Cody Runnels beamed at her on the other side of the doorframe. "You ready to go?"

"Mhmm," she nodded as he took her bag from her hands and pushed her wheeling suitcase into the hallway. "I'm ready."

Cody peered over her head and squinted at Charlie on the other side of the room, "Oh, hi, Charlie. Is that what you're wearing to Maria's costume birthday party? I didn't know it was tonight…"

Charlie's jaw clenched, "That's next week."

"Oh. Well, it looks very realistic," he noted and turned back to his girlfriend. "You have everything?"

Becky looked at the closet to her right, which was only filled with her sister's items, and then back at her boyfriend, "Yep. Let's go."

"Okay," he nodded and then once again looked into the room at Charlie. "Bye, Charlie… I mean, uh… Wicked Witch of the West! Can't wait to see the rest of your costume next week!" Cody added as Becky pushed him into the hallway, her hand firmly on his chest.

Charlie huffed through her nose twice, took a deep breath, and then let out a shrill scream, so high-pitched it could shatter glass. Quickly, Becky reached back and shut the door behind her, muffling the shriek.

Cody vehemently shook his head, trying to get the ringing noise out of his ears, as they approached the elevator.

"Good God, do you scream like that?"

"No," his girlfriend replied with a chuckle as they stepped into the open elevator.

"What the hell happened to her?" Cody inquired curiously, leaning against the back wall.

"Her roots were showing," Becky shrugged innocently as the doors to the elevator closed, leaving the sounds of Charlie's screaming to echo behind them on the third floor.

* * *

**A/N: So there was a request by numerous people to continue this story into a long fiction. However, I am not one to extend a story into a future that has not occurred yet. As it is, writing into the New Year wasn't something I wanted to do, but felt it was essential to the story. With an immense amount of urging from my muse, Becky... I've decided to continue this story and make it into a long story. It won't be updated as often as my other stories, but it will be updated every three or four weeks.**

**That being said, I hope you liked the sequel to Fascinating New Thing and enjoyed some of the jokes in this story. I think this one's a little more lighthearted than the previous one, but nonetheless, I do love this story just as much.**

**Please review!**

**Danielle**


	2. Spin Around

Becky approached the dark maple door before her and rapped sharply on it twice, before a voice signaled her inside.

"You wanted to see me, Vince?" she asked, poking her head around the wood.

"Ah, Becky," Vince smiled up at her and pulled his glasses from the bridge of his nose, "Come in."

She nodded and took a seat at the makeshift desk, lined with different color papers and what appeared to be some scripts.

Despite what appeared to look like on the television, in reality, he was actually an overpowering looking man. He was broad shouldered and always wore a trademarked power suit, giving him the appearance of a superior being.

Truth be told, a little piece of her was afraid of Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Although, after watching his dealings with DX and the Spirit Squad of old, she wasn't really sure why.

"Is everything okay?" Becky asked curiously, studying his face.

"Okay?" he asked her, grinning brightly. "Please. Everything is wonderful thanks to your little stunt in the ring last week. Hitting Cade and Murdoch with a Singapore cane? How did you think of that?"

A nervous chuckle escaped her lips, "Funny story, actually…"

"No matter," Vince smiled and waved her off. "Time is of the essence at the moment and we need to talk. I want to put you in the ring full-time."

Becky cocked her head to the side, "Huh?"

The gray-templed man shook his head amusedly and explained, "Your sister's just not that much of a draw anymore. She's been here for six years and the storyline hasn't changed a bit."

"But I thought that was working?"

"It hasn't been for a while now," Vince shrugged and shuffled through the papers on his desk, "But we didn't have any other option."

He stopped and looked up at her, a wry smirk crossing his sharp features.

_That can't be good… that's NEVER good._

"Well, until now."

A moment or two passed before Becky was able to full comprehend what Vince was actually implying.

"Me?" she asked incredulously, her eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. "I'm that other option."

"Yes, you are," he answered simply. "Bottom line, Becky, the fans love you… and Charlie's gimmick is getting old, fast."

"So… what am I going to do?"

"Nothing much, at first," he shook his head lightly and handed her a light pink packet of papers. "This is the general build up for the next couple of months. We'd like to turn you into the number one contender to the Women's Title down the road, but we've got to start somewhere."

Skimming over the paper, she couldn't really make sense of it all.

"Where exactly _is_ the beginning?" Becky asked, rolling the paper up in her hands.

"Well, I'm glad that you asked…" Vince began outlining the details of the entire plan and then instructed her to read over the paper once more.

With a newfound interest and curiosity, Becky's green eyes roamed over the pastel pink page and halted at the end.

Shit. Charlie was NOT going to like that.

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay to do this?" Cody asked outside of Becky's small changing area, hidden only by a black curtain.

"I'm fine. Charlie on the other hand…" she trailed off as another scream came from the other side of the set and she snickered. "Not so much."

"Are you kidding me?!?" the blonde-haired woman shrieked as she tore through the area reserved for the photographers. "You want me to wear this?" she continued, holding up a skimpy white outfit on a hanger.

"Yes," the somewhat frightened, short photographer replied. "Yes, I do."

"Um, obviously you didn't get the memo…" she rolled her eyes. "White makes me look fat."

"Becky is wearing red and black. Would you rather wear that?" he countered, holding up a black feather boa as an example of her wardrobe.

Charlie stomped her foot and turned on her white stiletto heels, "Ugh!"

Becky emerged from behind the curtain in what looked to be a fallen angel costume, complete with black wings. Her hair was in loose waves to her shoulders, which were bare. The rest of her body was barely even covered, as she only wore a red corset with black lacing, a jet black pair of fishnet stockings, and black stiletto heels.

Cody's eyes nearly exploded from his head, "Um… wow."

With a devious look on her face, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down towards her, "Don't get used to this."

* * *

_**The Wild, Wild Wests**_

_For the longest time, only Charlotte West dominated the WWE Ring whenever another woman entered. A six-year veteran of the RAW brand, the two-time WWE Women's Champ and three-time Babe of the Year, found her way onto television sets around the world by the time she was twenty one. Now, at twenty-seven years old, she's got the whole world wrapped around her well-manicured finger._

_Not much was known about Rebecca West six months ago. At twenty two years old, she had just graduated college and followed in her sister's footsteps. Everyone pretty much figured she was just like her sister and left her alone. Sporting a lip ring and some seriously dark outfits, the mere thought of crossing paths with her left some terrified._

_The sisters are rarely seen fighting or arguing and rarely leave each other's side. Hell, they even share a dressing room._

_Oh wait, did we say share? We meant shared_

_**The Angelic One**_

_Charlie West is the epitome of a blonde bombshell. Quite obviously a blonde, and a natural one at that, with bright blue eyes, the mere sight of her screams goddess. But Charlie is never to be crossed. Her temper is as fierce as her body and she's not afraid to use either one._

_It's hard to pick a WWE Superstar that hasn't fallen for the charms of the one and only Ms. West. In fact, she's seemed to pick up the nickname of "Mae West" amongst the men backstage for reasons that need not be explained._

_All in all, Charlie's become a forced to be reckoned with in the WWE, but then again… everything changes with time, doesn't it?_

_**The Devil in Disguise**_

_If you happen to be one of the unfortunate souls who decides to call Becky West by her full first name, Rebecca, I feel sorry for you. While she's not exactly 5'10" or a veteran Diva, she will still kick your ass at a moment's notice._

_Becky is five feet, five inches of brains and beauty, with piercing emerald eyes that might just burn holes right through your soul. Even though she's shed her rebellious exterior shell, as well as the lip ring, she still possesses the same "spitfire" attitude given the chance._

_Wonder where she got that from?_

_**Lightning Strikes… Twice.**_

_For years, the two very different sisters peacefully co-existed. Charlie constantly had a date to every WWE event and arena, while Becky found herself buried in her music and her books to pass the time, but then something happened._

_More specifically, Cody Rhodes happened._

_In fact, the sisters no longer share a dressing room, let alone a hotel room. Apparently, Charlie's got a room to herself and Becky's shacking up with the son of legendary WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes._

"_Having a room to myself is much more fun. Now I never have to check if the room is empty," Charlie informs us with a wry smile and a wink._

_But with Becky currently climbing her way towards the Women's Title, and Charlie setting her sights on that title once again, a clash of the Titans might just occur. Better yet, a clash of the West sisters._

_While Becky's relationship with Cody has been the talk of the WWE for the last few weeks now and seems to only be getting hotter with time, one thing's for certain: the rivalry between Charlotte and Rebecca West is about to get heated, as well._

_Personally, we're just waiting for Cody to win the WWE Title. Who wouldn't want to see them try and top Lita and Edge's celebration?

* * *

_

"Are you sure you can't at least call?"

Becky rolled her eyes as she lounged on the bed in a pair of jeans and a chocolate brown sweater, "For the last time, I am not going to contact the photographer and ask for that outfit, okay? Just. Get. Over. It."

"I'd rather be over you," he smiled deviously, leaning on the doorframe of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, fresh from the shower.

She couldn't help but snort with laughter, "When the fuck did you turn into a mini Randy Orton?"

"What?" he countered, snatching the jeans he'd left for himself off of the blanket. "Just cause I demonstrate an interest in having sex, now I have to be Randy Orton?"

"No," she countered as he shut the bathroom door behind him, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips, "It's because you use cheesy sexual innuendos like it's your job that you have to be Randy Orton. I don't want to be in a relationship with an Orton clone. I want to be in a relationship with Cody Runnels."

"Then come with me to the party," Cody replied, stepping through the now open doorway in a pair of unzipped jeans and nothing else, a towel in his hand, and dark hair still wet from the shower.

"I don't want to go to the fucking party, Cody," Becky shook her head at him. "Please, stop asking me."

He smirked at her and zippered his fly, "I will if you call…"

"No, Runnels. Now, stop it," she ordered him, eliciting a groan from his lips.

Begrudgingly, he opened up his suitcase and pulled out a light blue tee shirt with an ornate Celtic cross over the right shoulder, "Fine."

"Cody, you're going to get that shirt soaked," Becky informed him, taking the towel that was now laying on the floor into her hands. "Come here."

"And I thought you didn't care about clothes," he shot back sarcastically as he sat down on the mattress, his back to her.

"I don't," she shot back at him, rising to her knees just behind him. "I do, however, care a lot about you."

Cody shook his head incredulously as she began rubbing the white towel over his head lightly.

"What is it?" she asked him, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"I just can't believe it took this long…"

"What did?"

"For people to get to know you, I mean," he clarified his previous statement, still staring straight ahead at the plastered wall.

"Well if it wasn't for you, they wouldn't have noticed me at all," she replied with a sigh and allowed the towel to drop to the floor.

"Someone would have…"

As much as Cody could try and convince her otherwise, his efforts would be one hundred percent futile. She was smarter than that. She knew that no one really saw her as anything more than Charlie's sister, especially the guys that just saw her as an obstacle to be dealt with in trying to get into Charlie's pants, which really wasn't difficult at all.

She was used to the live of a recluse. In fact, she lived for her music and her books for a while. It seemed as though she were just pulling in money for zero work. Then again, she wasn't one to complain. Becky got to travel and see the world, something she had always wanted to do since she was a little girl.

"Maybe," she shrugged, not wanting to argue the point with the one man who actually noticed her and liked what he saw. "But I don't care about any of them. The only person here who actually matters to me is you."

Cody shook his head sadly at the thought, "Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true," she added, wrapping her arms around his bare shoulders and pressing her cheek into the crook of his neck. "Charlie and I… well, we're conveniences to each other. There's nothing tying us to one another besides our blood."

"Take it from me, Becks," he assured her softly, "Blood counts for a lot."

"No, Cody," she pressed her soft lips to the smooth, warm skin of his neck, "Love counts for a lot. And if you really want me to go tonight, I will… but only because you want me to."

"No."

Becky pulled herself away from his shoulder and turned her head to the left slightly to try and connect with his eyes, "What do you mean no?"

"I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to go, we'll stay in," he smiled boyishly at her, content with the fact that he knew he was making her happy. "You don't want to be with anyone down there… and there's no one I'd rather be with more than you."

A grin spread across Becky's face as she marveled at her boyfriend.

In a matter of three weeks, she had gone from being a complete loner, rebellious for the sake of juxtaposing her seemingly perfect older sister, to a perfectly content young woman who was finally comfortable in her own skin.

She had accomplished something that some didn't for their entire lives and something that, deep down, she was certain Charlie hadn't even done herself.

* * *

"I can't even really think of you as being rebellious."

Becky placed her hands on her hips and pouted, "Why the hell not?"

He let out a loud laugh, "Becky, when I think of a rebel… I think of weird-ass hair color, baggy pants, sometimes chains… weird tattoos…"

"Basically Jeff Hardy," she concluded with a smile.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "You and Jeff Hardy… don't exactly ring any bells."

"I used to be rebellious once," she assured him. "I really was. You want to hear something funny?"

"Sure," he looked at her intently with his blue eyes.

Becky looked down as she picked at the blanket and then back at him again, "This isn't meant to be mushy or anything like that… but the day I met you was the day I stopped trying to be rebellious."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she nodded and let out a slight chuckle. "I threw my lip ring away and everything. That was the first day I ever let anyone see the real me."

"Thank you for that," his face softened. "You know something? This conversation made me realize that I don't know a lot about you."

"Me either," Becky admitted. "What was it like growing up the son of a famous wrestler?"

"Not what you'd think," Cody shrugged. "Don't get me wrong… I mean, as a kid, it's kind of cool having guys like Ric Flair and Arn Anderson over your house on any given night for dinner and Missy Hyatt as your babysitter. As I got older, though, I realized that none of it was enough to make up for my dad not being around."

Becky looked at him sympathetically, "That's gotta be rough."

"It was," he admitted half-heartedly, "But the good thing about being in the WWE now is that when I see my dad at his job, it's MY job too. I've grown up idolizing this business and then one day it's like… BOOM! I'm in it," he concluded with a proud grin. "But enough about me… why about you?"

"Parents are divorced," she ticked off on her fingers like she was trying to recall her shopping list, "I've got a stepdad, a stepmom, numerous stepsiblings, and the only blood sibling I have is a whore," Becky finished with a humorous look on her face.

Cody chuckled, "She is not a whore…"

"Oh yes she is!" Becky exclaimed loudly. "You name me one guy on this roster, besides you, that hasn't gotten in her pants!"

"Ric Flair," he countered.

She rolled her eyes, "That's not even fucking fair. He looks like a prune! You totally were planning on that one."

"Maybe… but still, it's not nice to call your sister a whore."

"I can call her whatever I want, thank you very much," Becky grinned forcedly. "I'm just glad that she can't claim she has Vince wrapped around her finger anymore. I swear to God, he's so damn happy about the whole Singapore Cane thing, that I think I've taken her place."

A mischievous smile slowly spread across the face of the young man across from her.

"You want to test that out?"

* * *

Becky laughed gleefully as Cody wheeled in the cart that he had just received at the door, "Oh my God. I can't believe that he did it!"

"Looks like you really did take her place," Cody mused as he began surveying the items of food and drink on the cart.

"When I called and said that I wanted to avoid my sister, I never thought he'd agree to send us some stuff from the party!" she continued to marvel, her head now in her hands. "Is there anything good on there?"

"I think the better question is… is there anything _not_ good on here?" he laughed as he grabbed two plates and handed her one. "There's pasta and steak and chicken and salad…"

She stood up from the bed and walked over, pulling one of the covers off of a dish and smiling, "And dessert."

"And champagne," Cody added, holding up not one, but two bottles of Cristal. "Apparently, John Cena must have had some pull on this one."

Becky quickly came to Cena's defense, "Leave John alone! He's the only guy that's ever been nice to me here besides you."

In complete honesty, Cena hadn't exactly been her best friend, but he did stop to chat with her every now and again, even after Charlie had screwed him over… literally. In fact, he was probably the only superstar who didn't ignore her completely upon conquering her sister.

"Only cause I'm in the holiday spirit," Cody replied as he helped himself to some of the food.

* * *

"It's 11:55, Cody. Turn on the TV," his girlfriend instructed him, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear and settling in on the bed, her legs crossed Indian-style.

The blue-eyed man obliged, clicking on the remote control. Almost instantaneously, coverage of the ball in Times Square popped on the screen.

_11:56 pm._

"Where did I put those champagne glasses?" he asked rhetorically, looking around the room for the glasses, before spotting them on the nightstand. "There they are," he added, pulling the champagne bottle out of the ice bucket.

"Sit down, Cody," Becky smiled at him and patted her hand on the bed next to her.

He nodded and slid behind her onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her torso and kissing her cheek.

_11:57pm._

"I wonder what 2008 is gonna be like," Cody stated with intrigue. "I must say, 2007 has been kind of interesting."

"Yeah," she looked up behind her and met his sapphire orbs with shining emerald eyes. "It has."

_11:58 pm._

"Cody?" she whispered.

"Yeah?" he replied quietly.

"Are you sorry that we didn't go downstairs for the party?" Becky wondered, feeling slightly guilty for making him stay in.

_11:59 pm._

"Nah," Cody shook his head and smiled at her, handing her a glass of champagne, "I'd much rather be here with you. Tonight's been a lot of fun."

She nodded and turned towards the screen where, the countdown had begun.

Soon, Becky and Cody found themselves counting together, "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

_12:00 am._

Cody's blue eyes locked with Becky's green ones before they fluttered close and her lips were pressed upon by his own.

Upon their departure, she blushed and stared into the azure eyes she always seemed to get lost in, "Happy New Year, Cody."

He smiled back at her and reached up to brush a strand of raven-colored hair out of her face, "Happy New Year, Becky."

A moment later, he pressed his lips against her once more, the taste of sweet champagne still on her lips as her back connected with the mattress below. He placed his flute down on the wooden table beside the bed, taking hers from her hands and moving it there, as well.

Suddenly, Cody pulled his lips away and pushed himself off of her for a brief moment, reaching behind him to the cart.

He held up a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, a devious smirk etched upon his face, and his blue eyes sparkled, "Care to start the New Year off right?"

* * *

**A/N: So this is the first chapter I've written in a little while, but I hope you all like it.**

**Becky, this one was for you in return for the fabulous chapter you produced tonight!**

**As always, review!!!**

**Danielle**


	3. I Wanna Be Bad

It had been nearly two weeks since New Year's and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Cody was finally home for a reason other than the holidays. Then again, for the first time in equally as long, he was sharing the house with someone else.

To Cody Runnels, however, Becky West was just someone… she was HIS someone.

"Becky, wake up," Cody reached a bare arm over to shake her lightly.

Her black tank top twisted as she turned away from him in their bed, "What is it, Cody?"

"Becky…" he whined, shaking her a little harder this time.

"What do you want?" she buried her head in her pillow.

"It's snowing out," he cooed to her.

She growled, "You woke me up to tell me it was snowing?"

"And… uh…" he fumbled for words that would put her in a slightly better mood. "To tell you that I loved you?"

Becky cracked open an eye and gave her boyfriend a view of her green iris, "That's a little better."

"Now that I have you awake, I don't want you to take this the wrong way… but," he twirled the edge of his navy blue pillow case nervously as her other eye opened, "Do you think you could make us breakfast? I mean, not that you have to… no one's cooking stacked up to yours and I just wanted a good, home-cooked, you know? Wait… that sounded terrible…"

A smile danced on her lips. He really was cute when he was flustered.

"Are you asking me to make you breakfast because you missed my cooking?" she asked him with an amused grin.

Cody breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah."

"Okay," she nodded and then shut her eyes again, nuzzling into the pillow. "Just give me five more minutes…"

The Georgia native flopped back onto his own pillow roughly, "Becky…"

"ALRIGHT!" she exclaimed, a hint of frustration in her voice as she sat up and left the bed. "I'm up! I'm up!"

* * *

"So what do you want to do today?" Cody asked her in-between forkfuls of eggs.

While Cody was over six feet tall, it was hard for his girlfriend to comprehend just where he put it all. Correction, it was hard to comprehend where it all went.

"Are you a bottomless pit or something?"

He shrugged and opened his mouth, giving her a clear view of his undigested meal, "High metabolism."

She rolled her eyes at him, "That's disgusting."

"You're disgusting," he retorted like a twelve year old.

"If I was, that's a pretty bad reflection of you," Becky informed him. "I'm YOUR girlfriend, remember?"

Cody swallowed his foot and took a sip of orange juice from his glass, "Oh yeah, right. But you never answered my question… what do you want to do today?"

"I don't know… maybe do something like a regular person would. Go food shopping and go to the mall, maybe catch a movie?"

"That's a good idea," he nodded. "Everything, but especially the mall. You should definitely get some clothes and stuff to keep here."

"Cody, we've only been together for a month," she reasoned with him. "Don't you think it's a little early for me to start moving my things into your house?"

"You know what they say…" he trailed off, waving his fork around in the air. "It starts with a toothbrush…"

"That's the stupidest line of reasoning I think I have EVER heard in my life," Becky shook her head at him incredulously. "And I have Charlotte West as my sister."

"Whatever. I mean, we practically live together on the road anyway."

As Becky took a swig of orange juice from her own glass, she had to admit that Cody did have a point.

Contemplating the issue further, she began to realize that maybe just buying a few essentials to store there was actually kind of practical. If she felt like coming to visit Cody when they were scheduled to be in different places, she would have to worry about running out of clothes… especially clean ones.

"Cody?"

"Yeah?"

Becky bit her lip, "I think you just made sense."

"Fuck yeah!" he nodded cockily. "Ten points for me."

"Try five… if you're lucky."

Cody hung his head dejectedly, "Damn."

* * *

The couple strolled hand in hand through the department store, stopping occasionally to look at a few outfits, but never really finding what they were looking for.

A little while later, they exited the store in order to enter the mall and found chaos on the snowy January day.

"I guess everyone had the same idea as us," Becky mused as they surveyed the scene before them.

"Looks like it," Cody agreed. "Come on, let's find us a store worth shopping?

"Sounds good to me," she smiled as they walked to their left and straight towards a Spencer's Gifts.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Becks?"

"If I am, I might be a little afraid…"

He rolled his deep blue eyes and pulled her into the store, "Don't be stupid."

"Fine," she relented and willingly began following him around the store. "But stay away from all of those kinky sex games and crap like that. I don't really feel the need to wind up on Perez Hilton with a picture of me and you looking through that crap and having to explain to Mom what the hell I was doing?"

"Oh, like your mother would care?" Cody challenged her with an arched eyebrow.

"I wasn't talking about _my_ mother, Runnels," Becky clarified with a laugh and headed towards the back of the store as their hands unlinked. "I was talking about yours."

"Oh," he stared down at his shoes for a moment, "Right."

"Cody!" she squealed from the end of the aisle abruptly and pointed at the wall ahead of her. "Look!"

"What?" he asked, approaching her.

"Look!" she continued to point at the wall.

Cody swiveled around to find a whole wall of WWE tee-shirts and Becky immediately made a bee-line for one in particular.

"Aww… Cody!" she held up the shirt over her body.

_Everyone loves a bad girl…_

"How is that a WWE tee shirt?" he asked confusedly, cocking his head to the side.

She rolled her eyes at him, reaching out to smack him upside the back of his head.

"What was that for?!?" his eyes popped out at her.

Becky flipped over the shirt to the back and held it out to him.

_Don't you?_

_Becky West_

"Ohhhhhh!"

"Can you please tell me again why I'm your girlfriend?"

Cody waved his hand around in the air, pretending to search for the answer, "Something about me being six foot one, pure muscle, blue-eyed, irresistibly handsome…"

"Not to mention humble…"

Cody shrugged and began to look around some more.

"That too."

* * *

By the time they had left the mall, Becky had found her way to Hot Topic, American Eagle Outfitters, and a few no-name stores and managed to find some nice clothing. None of it was too over the top in the rebellious area, but none of it was extremely prissy either.

And that was perfect for her.

But now, came the hard task.

Cody was pulling up to the local Wegmans' and she had no idea what to stock the house with. Charlie usually did the shopping when they lived together for a brief while and as a college student, every meal was provided.

This was completely unchartered territory for the twenty-two year old.

And there wasn't much in life that Becky was scared off, save sharks and the outer lanes of bridges.

But as stupid as it seemed… she was scared of this.

* * *

"Uh… Cody?" Becky asked as she pushed the shopping cart through the automatic doors. "Any idea what you want to keep in the house?"

"Yeah, I think so. If you want some stuff to keep for you too, feel free," he shrugged, heading directly for the fruits and vegetables.

"Like what?"

"I don't know… a toothbrush?"

"Smart ass," she snorted as he made his way over to the cantaloupes. "What are you doing?"

Cody turned to her, with a melon in each hand, "I'm trying to figure out which of these to get. I like putting these in fruit salad."

Becky could barely contain her laughter, "You look like you're sexually assaulting a cantaloupe."

"You're acting like you're five," he countered, continuing to squeeze them and test out their firmness.

"I'm sorry," she finally exploded in chuckles, "I just can't help it."

Cody rolled his eyes, "Do me a favor… just go get me a few oranges, a bunch of grapes, and some apples, okay?"

"Ay-ay, captain!" she saluted him and then passed him to head towards the remainder of the fruits.

* * *

"Flax seed oil?" she picked up the glass bottle and eyed it. "What the hell is this?"

"It's better for your body, doesn't turn into fat as frequently as others do. It's a… healthy oil," he explained to her.

"Oh," she nodded and then turned to look at Cody, who was scanning the aisle for a jar of good, low sodium tomato sauce. "You're one of those guys that eats a hot dog and then does one hundred extra crunches at the gym, aren't you?"

"No… not really," Cody laughed at her as he pulled a jar of low sodium Ragu off of the shelf. "I just eat 98 lean hot dogs."

"So you're a health freak then?"

"What…? No."

"Good," she replied with a satisfied smile. "Cause I'm gonna let you know right now, if we're gonna live together… there's going to be ice cream in the house and chocolate and gasp! Olive oil!"

"See now," Cody pointed his finger in the air. "Common misconception, olive oil, in small amounts, is actually a healthy oil too…"

"Not the point, Cody," Becky cut him off. "I'm just saying that I hope you're not going to have a conniption fit if there's junk food in the house. I think I'm a pretty healthy person, but I like to indulge every now and then."

"Um, okay…" Cody placed the jar back on the shelf and began scanning the shelf again, before finally holding up a jar. "How's this? A jar of full sodium, Ragu Garlic, Onion, and Olive Oil tomato sauce."

A chuckle escaped her lips, "It's a start."

* * *

"How many eggs does one person _need_?"

"Um… I don't know. I happen to eat a lot of eggs…"

"Cody," she dropped her head down to look at the cartons stacked up in the grocery cart, "That's five cartons of eggs."

"I… I… I'm a growing boy!" he retorted unsuccessfully. "Shit, Becky. I just like eggs, okay?"

She put her hands up in mock surrender, "Okay! Okay!"

"God," he shook his head, annoyed with her behavior thus far.

_And she claims to be the serious one…_

"Are you sure you don't need any of these too, Cody?" Becky stopped and pointed to a display of Tampax at the end of an aisle.

"Are you sure you don't, REBECCA?" he mocked her, using her full name.

"That was low… even for you."

"I thought you liked it when I called you Rebecca?"

"Only when you're not being a dick about it…" she hissed at him.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day as they approached a twelve year old girl and her mother, nearly sixty feet ahead of them. "Becky… look," he pointed towards the girl as they headed for the checkout counter.

"What do you want now, Cody?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her in the direction of the young, blonde girl with her mother, "LOOK."

After a brief resistance, she glanced ahead of her at the girl and her face softened.

_Everyone loves a bad girl…_

"That's my shirt," her jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

"Yeah," Cody smiled proudly at his girlfriend, "That's your shirt."

"That's… my… shirt," she repeated, a smile crossing her face.

With a proud grin on her face, she began to walk towards the girl, pushing the heavy cart with Cody.

"That's pretty cool, Becky," he acknowledged.

_Fifteen feet._

A few seconds later, the girl was directly in front of her and she leaned to the side and whispered to her, "Nice shirt."

After passing the girl, the blonde turned around as she walked and then shook her head, figuring it couldn't be who she had thought.

But it was.

* * *

**A/N: And with this story, the triple update is complete at last!**

**Becky, I know you're having a crappy week, so this one is for you, darling! Sorry, it's kind of short. I got sleepy. It's 2:40am by me.**

**I appreciate:**

**Queen Cena (Of COURSE), Queen Runnels (Um… DUH), nefertina-shanf, Johnny, Cassymae, Enigmatic Lotus Leaf, and WWESupernatural102292!**

**Please, as always, feed the feedback monster!**

**Danielle**


	4. When You Were Young

"Becky, I need to talk to you."

"Okay, way to knock, Cody," Becky's reflection in the mirror rolled her eyes at him as she finished applying her mascara.

Cody smirked at her, "What? It's not like you're gonna show me anything I haven't seen before."

She twisted back on the cap and whirled around to face him, her dark hair following, "Keep it up and soon, you won't be able to remember what I look like without my clothes on," she finished and turned back towards the mirror.

The dark-haired twenty two year old behind her approached her slowly and wrapped his arms around her torso, resting his head on her shoulder, "Baby, you're kind of hard to forget…"

Becky let out a deep sigh as she looked over their reflection, "If only you weren't so damn good in bed I might actually follow through on that threat."

"Mhmm…" he trailed off, trailing kisses down her neck to go along with his words.

"Come on, Cody… you said you needed to talk to me," she wriggled in his grasp. "What is it about?"

"Hmm?" he asked her absentmindedly.

"CODY," she pushed him off of her and faced him. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"Oh," his face dropped noticeably and he rubbed a hand over his black spikes. "Yeah…"

Her green eyes darkened, "You're hiding something. What?"

"I was just talking to Orton…" Cody continued to avoid her piercing stare.

Growing impatient, she waved him on, "And…"

"AND," Cody's sapphire orbs held her gaze, "He said that you're starting the program with your sister… tonight."

He was still hiding something. She was sure of it.

"And…?"

His eyes shut for a moment and opened again, "They want you to share a dressing room… just for tonight."

Becky's once content mood dropped dramatically. This was not how she wanted tonight to go.

Sure, she was going to have to work on a program with Charlie, as Vince had told her, but no one had EVER said they'd have to share a dressing room. After her little incident at the Hilton, Becky had vowed never to share anything with her sister, let alone personal space of any kind.

She'd much rather do that with Cody… so she did. Often.

"I guess that means I have to go to go there now, huh?" Becky asked, her emerald eyes no longer sparkling.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm sorry, Becks."

"No," she waved him off with her right hand, "No apologies necessary. I'll see you out there for your match, okay?"

"Right," Cody nodded as she moved for the door. "Can I at least get a kiss goodbye?"

A slight smile crossed her face, "Only if you're there to give me a kiss hello when I come back."

Cody's blue eyes grew brighter as he grabbed a hold of her arm and planted a light kiss on her lips, "Always."

* * *

Becky walked through the open dressing room door and made her way into the room that once partially belonged to her. Now, though, instead of Charlie's belongings being strewn across half of the room, they were scattered everywhere. 

And where was Charlie West?

Of course, she was neither alone, nor unoccupied.

As her younger sister stood just beyond the doorway, she watched the conversation unfold before her.

"So uh…" the platinum blonde man continued to smack his gum as he leaned against the wall, "What are you doin' after the show?"

"I don't know," she shrugged innocently, twirling a lock of equally blonde hair around her index finger. "Why?"

A smug grin crossed the Wisconsin native's face, "Well, I was just thinking that you and I…"

Before the conversation could go any further, Rebecca decided to clear her throat and spare herself the nightmares and therapy later on down the road.

A clearly annoyed Charlie whipped around her head and frowned, "Oh… it's you."

"Yep," Becky smiled brightly, "The one and only sister you've got."

"Unfortunately," she muttered and turned back to her suitor, "Listen, I'll meet up with you after the show, okay?"

He nodded and walked passed the statuesque blonde, towards the door, and nodded at the younger sister, "Rebecca."

"Kennedy," she stated plainly.

"Kennedy," he added and walked out of the room.

"I'm going to take a shower," Charlie announced abruptly and opened the door to the bathroom before closing it behind her sharply.

It was certainly going to be an interesting night.

* * *

"So are you?" Becky asked her sister, lacing up her black wrestling boots. 

Charlie looked up from her cell phone as she sat, legs crossed, in a black leather love seat, "Am I what?"

"Going to see Ken tonight?" she continued on further with a genuine curiosity.

"Probably," she shrugged nonchalantly and flipped her hair. "Why… care to join in?"

Becky could swear she had just thrown up in her mouth, "You're sick."

"Get a grip, _Rebecca,_" Charlie laughed at the raven-haired woman. "I'm only kidding."

"It's hard to tell sometimes, _Charlotte,_" she countered, using her sister's not-so-beloved full first name in kind.

"You're the one who has turned into a totally different person."

"And you're the one who dumbs herself down just to get some."

In complete frustration and anger, Charlie rose from her chair and stormed out of the room.

"Gee," Becky mused to herself, alone in the room, "That went well."

And that was when it dawned on her.

The only way she knew how to get attention from any guy she actually liked... was by sleeping with him.

* * *

"You missed my match," Cody complained as Becky arrived at the gorilla position, only to find him returning with his tag team partner, along with their belts. 

She stopped dead in her tracks and sighed, "I got sidetracked on the way… Vince came looking for me and I couldn't blow him off."

"Well then, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," his platinum-haired partner clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at Becky before walking down the hall.

"Bye, Bob," Becky returned the gesture and then looked at Cody. "Come on, let's go somewhere. I'll make it up to you."

"Fine," the blue-eyed wrestler relented. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere you want."

"Um… how do you feel about sand?"

* * *

Becky plopped down onto the sand at the top of the slight hill in her dark blue jeans and eyed her boyfriend. 

"Cody, isn't the water kind of cold?" she asked him, watching as he stepped into the water, his acid-washed jeans cuffed at the bottom.

"Becky, this is Florida," he chuckled heartily at her question, "We're not in Wisconsin and this isn't Lake Michigan. It's really not that bad."

"But it's nighttime…"

"And it's warm," he corrected her with a smile and waded a little deeper.

Her emerald eyes glinted in the moonlight as she watched her boyfriend's movements carefully.

For most of her life, she had been the girl waiting on some guy to sweep her off her feet and looking on as her sister stole the hearts of every guy she met.

But there he was… standing in front of her, the bottom of his jeans starting to absorb the water brought on by the crashing ocean waves.

Cody had saved her from herself in the end.

What had started as a simple frustration with her identity crisis had morphed into this incredible relationship, but where it had come from, she didn't know.

What she did know was that she was incredibly lucky to have snagged herself seemingly the only guy on the roster interested in a woman that didn't play dumb or threw her sexuality around like she was auditioning for Playboy.

The fact was, Cody Runnels had become her savior of sorts. And while as a Catholic girl, this was a little blasphemous, Becky didn't care. He was her own personal Jesus.

Alright, so he didn't have a long beard or long hair, but he had managed to resurrect the old Becky West.

And that had to count for something, right?

"Aren't you coming in?" his voice knocked her back to reality and she looked up to find him standing above her.

"Me?" she asked him incredulously.

"No, the palm tree behind you," he mocked her. "Of course you, stupid."

"I'm not dressed for the beach, Cody," Becky informed him and pulled at her navy and silver foil tee shirt.

"And I am?" he extended a muscular arm out and stretched out his hand to her. "Come on, it's not that cold, I swear."

"Okay," she sighed in exasperation and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Cody waited for her to slide off her flip flops and after doing so, he led her towards the water. Unfortunately, a wave crashed and covered Becky's ankles in water.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed and jumped slightly. "Now I'm all wet!"

"It's water, it'll dry… but it's not too cold, right?"

"I guess not and you're right, it'll dry," she admitted as smirk appeared on her face. Moments later, she kicked a large splash of water right at Cody, "As will you."

"What the fuck, Becky?!?" Cody yelled loudly, digging down into the water with his hands and splashing her.

As they continued to mess around in the water, Becky couldn't help but be reminded of the lake house her parents once owned on Lake Michigan. As kids, no older than eight and twelve, she and her sister used to have water fights down in the water until they got so cold at night, their lips turned blue.

But that was a different time… a happy time.

A time when she and Charlie were best friends…

When they'd set off fireworks on the fourth of July because they had something to celebrate…

And they'd watch the sun set over the lake before bed…

When their mother would tell them their favorite stories from her childhood before they slept…

And dreams of the perfect boy would fill young Rebecca West's head.

What did she dream of, exactly?

She dreamt of the strong tall boy with love in his heart and bright eyes that only wished to look at her, the one who would play Prince Charming and rescue her in the end.

"Hey, hey!" Cody protested as she began to stumble backwards, pulling on his arm as she went down. "I am not the captain! I do not go down with the ship!"

But his words came too late as Becky managed to pull him down into the water with her, soaking him up to his elbows as he fell beside the seated woman, who was slowly backing up closer to shore.

She looked over at him and smiled apologetically, "Sorry. Kind of lost my balance."

He got up and walked over to where she was now sitting, in the moist sand where few of the waves would wash up, "You. Suck."

Her dream guy was a gentleman and treated her right, putting her well-being before his own. They'd live in a house with a yard and they'd spend Christmas with their families, altogether in one place, seated around the dinner table and talking with each other.

But those dreams died along with her childhood on the day her parents separated.

It was all just a childish fantasy.

It was all just an overactive imagination.

But every now and then there were moments like this…

Moments where it seemed as though the family was still together…

And her parents slept in the same bed…

And every night at the Wests' was like a sleepover….

Moments where she remembered what it was like to be happy…

And that the perfect man really could exist beyond her dreams.

"Becky?" his blue eyes narrowed at her as she just stared out into nothing. "I'm sorry if I hurt you, I didn't mean anything by it…"

"I love you," Becky blurted out and then clasped her hand over her mouth. "Oh shit, I-I-I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from…"

"Becky," he shook his head at her and placed a finger to her lips. "It's okay. I love you too."

"You-you do?" her eyes lit up as she stared into his intently.

A boyish smile spread across Cody's face, "Yeah."

"You really do?"

"Yes, Rebecca," he replied sincerely, sending shivers down her spine as he bent down and kissed her, pressing her back into the sand. "I really, REALLY do."

And as Becky and Cody laid entangled on the sandy shoreline, the waves crashing around them and sliding between their bodies, the electric contact between their skin proved one thing for certain:

She wasn't dreaming.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, a little update. I thought this was a little romantic and dealt with some of her past issues, which is going to be very important later on… I think.**

**Read and review, please!!!**

**Danielle**


	5. Changes

As Rebecca West left the office of Vince McMahon, the color immediately drained from her face.

Sure, she had expected to work her way up the roster and eventually get her break, but she didn't think it'd be that night... and not against _her._

"So I hear death is upon you, Rebecca?"

Becky stopped dead in her tracks and took a deep breath before wheeling around to face the familiar voice.

"I think your confusing me with my sister again, Randy," she replied icily.

The last person that she wanted to deal with at the moment was one of her sister's discards.

"Oh no, believe me," Randy shook his head, "I can tell the difference between a bitch and a sweetheart."

_Did Randy Orton just compliment me?_

Becky's face softened as she smiled at the taller man, "Thanks, Randy. That actually means a lot coming from you."

"No problem," he waved it off, his sapphire eyes glinting in the florescent light of the arena.

"So where are you off to, Mr. Orton?" she asked him with a slight smile still on her lips.

"Nowhere really," he admitted. "Mainly hiding out from your sister, but don't tell her that."

"Please," Becky rolled her green eyes, "I barely speak to her as it is. Do you really think I'd break my own rule just to give away your hiding spot?"

Randy flashed her one of his trademark, knee-weakening grins, "You know, it's really too bad I picked the wrong sister."

"Yeah…" she trailed off, staring down at her red converse sneakers which matched her red racerback tank top.

She couldn't help but be at a loss for words. Randy Orton, one of the most desirable men on the face of the earth, and one of the most prized conquests of her older sister, just admitted that he wished he had chosen her over Charlie.

_Wow._

"Listen, I have to get ready for my spot tonight with Hardy," Randy smiled at her again, "But you take care of yourself out there, alright?"

"I will," Becky nodded, "But you have to do the same. The last thing you need to do is break your neck and kill Jeff in the process. Be careful out on the ramp, okay?"

"Deal," he agreed and walked off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Becky stood on line in catering, tapping her foot as she waited for the ever-picky Jeff Hardy to decide on what piece of chicken he wanted, when she heard a humming sound behind her.

Further focusing in on the noise, she realized they were the notes of the funeral march.

"You know," she stated agitatedly and turned around, "I really don't find that too funny… oh. Hi, John."

"What's up, green eyes?" the visiting West Newbury native smiled at her.

"Oh, nothing much," she shrugged innocently. "Just the small fact that everyone seems to think I'm going to die in my match tonight, but other than that… nothing at all."

"Come on, Becky," John nudged her slightly, "I'm over six feet tall and even I'm slightly afraid of her."

"Thanks for making me feel better, Cena," Becky scoffed and turned back around to find Jeff still eyeing the chicken cutlets.

"I'm only kidding, Becky," he reached a hand out and grabbed onto her arm, turning her back towards him, "Relax."

"That's easy for you to say…" she rolled her emerald eyes. "You're the fucking Superman around here."

His eyes darkened as he rubbed his weakened arm, but only for a moment, "Yeah well, seems like Superman has found his Kryptonite, now hasn't he?"

A pang of guilt ran through her veins, "Shit, John. I didn't mean it that way… I'm sorry."

"I know you did," John sighed in discontent, "But I'd kill to be in that ring again, even if I had to face Khali, Snitsky, and Umaga, all at the same time. I wish I could be that Superman again, even if it meant that every single person out there would boo me."

Becky reached up a red-nailed hand and rested it on his shoulder, "Look, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, especially after everything that went down between you and Charlie, but no matter how many people boo you out there… I just want you to know that there's always someone back here cheering you on."

John glanced at his shoes and shook his head, then looked up at her with a smile, "You mean that?"

"Wouldn't say it if I didn't."

"You're a good kid, Becky," he grinned at her incredulously as Jeff finally moved on and the line shifted forward, "Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

* * *

"Becky?" a voice called out from down the hall as she approached her dressing room.

The raven-haired woman turned around to find the man known as Mr. Kennedy rapidly approaching her.

"Yeah?" she replied as he drew nearer.

"Have you seen the Bitch?" the platinum-spiked man asked bitterly.

_Ah… finally screwed you over too._

"Not recently," she shook her head at him, "I make it a habit to stay away."

Kennedy groaned, "Wish I had done the same."

Becky's head bobbed in understanding, "Ditched you too, huh?"

"Yep," he replied with a smack of his gum. "Middle of the night."

"Textbook Charlie," she sighed with a shake of the head. "You alright?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "Just a bruised ego really, that's all."

"Could have been worse…" Becky informed him.

"And how is that?" Kennedy raised his eyebrows at her.

"She could have left you… you know," Becky's voice dropped to a lower level, "In the middle of things."

The blonde man let out a hearty laugh, "You're a funny girl, Becky, you know that?"

"Thanks, Ken," she laughed along with him. "And don't worry about Charlie, really. She's gone through so many guys, I mean… she's got to run out eventually right?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" the corners of his lips curled slightly at the thought.

"Hmm…" she placed a finger on her chin, "Maybe not. But listen, if it makes you feel any better… if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't leave you hanging."

He smiled weakly, "You wouldn't?"

"Nope," she assured him with a firm nod. "And you know why?"

"Why?"

Becky grinned at him, "Because you're Mr. Kennedy…"

His chest welled up with pride and he stood up straight, smacking his gum, "Kennnnnnnneeeeeeeddddddddyyyyyy!"

With that, the reinvigorated man walked off leaving a chuckling Rebecca West behind, "Looks like someone's all better."

* * *

"Hey," Cody greeted his girlfriend, recently changed into her wrestling attire, with a bright grin as she entered their dressing room. "I've been looking for you all night, where were you?"

"I had to help out a few people," she shrugged nonchalantly, "No big."

"Becky," he got to his feet and slid his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans, "I know."

She let out a heavy sigh, "Not you too…"

"I'm just worried, that's all…"

"I get it!" she threw her hands up in the air as she dropped her body down onto the couch. "Don't you think I know how dangerous this is?"

"Not the way that you're training…" he muttered under his breath.

"Newsflash, Mr. Runnels," she gritted her teeth, "I can hear you."

"I just don't understand why you're sitting around doing nothing…"

"If I was sitting around, doing nothing," she raised an eyebrow in challenge, "Then why the hell were you looking for me all night?"

"That's not the point, _Rebecca_," Cody deadpanned.

She ground her teeth together at the mention of her full first name.

Normally, she didn't mind when it passed through his lips, but this time, it was out of spite.

And she was pissed.

"Then get to it, fast," Becky seethed at him, rising to her feet.

"You haven't so much as picked up a weight tonight, Becky," he noted and folded his arms over his chest.

She coughed once at the notion and walked to the door, angrily pulling it open, "Right, because lifting a fifteen pound dumbbell one hundred times tonight is really going to help me beat Beth Phoenix."

"Becky, don't be-"

_SLAM._

"Well, that went well."

* * *

As Becky tore down the hallway, she hardly even watched where she was going.

Perhaps that was why she had just landed on her ass after colliding with another body.

"You okay?" the light female voice beside her asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, standing up to brush herself off. "Just a little distracted… Mickie?"

"Yeah," the young woman nodded and took Becky's offered hand. "Hey."

"Sorry about that," Becky pulled Mickie to her feet. "I just got into a fight with Cody and I'm a little… out of sorts."

"Mind if I ask what the fight was about?" the brunette asked, smoothing down her skirt.

"It's this whole Beth Phoenix thing," Becky sighed heavily.

"Ahh," Mickie nodded.

"I see you've heard," she laughed sarcastically. "He's just driving me crazy about the whole thing…" she trailed off and dropped her voice to a deep level to imitate Cody. "'Why aren't you training?' 'Why are you sitting around, Rebecca?'"

"Ohhhhh no," Mickie shuddered. "He did NOT use the 'R' word!"

"He did!"

"Listen, Becky. I think Cody just cares about you a lot and he's worried," she explained to her younger friend. "If I were you, I'd be upset if he wasn't."

"I guess you're right," she decided with a heaving sigh. "My match is up next, though. I'm going to head out there."

"Good luck, Becky," Mickie smiled at her friend and gave her a hug.

"Thanks," Becky replied as Mickie retreated down the hallway. "I'm gonna need it."

* * *

Becky's deep green orbs squinted at the bright lights above her as she laid on her back, writhing in pain in the ring

The match hadn't been going well for Becky at all.

While she had been able to land a punch or two, a kick here and there, Beth was flat out kicking her ass.

And the fact that she was distracted by her earlier fight with Cody really wasn't helping at all.

Before she knew it, Beth had her arm around her and was up in the air.

_Shit. Fuck. Down in Flames._

Instinctively, Becky began kicking wildly and landed an elbow to her head.

Just as she was about to land a punch on her opponent, a large man blurred her vision as he entered the ring and grabbed her, causing the ref to call for the bell.

_What the fuck?!?!_

Turning around, she caught sight of the man who had cost her the match.

"CODY!" she screamed shrilly, wriggling in his arms, as Beth rolled out of the ring and retreated to the back, with her title still in her hands. "WHAT THE HELL?"

Cody's eyes widened, "You were getting your ass kicked out there, Becky! What did you expect me to do?"

"To let me fight my own damn battles!" she retorted, her words laced with anger.

"And get killed?!?" he asked her, finally letting go of her.

Becky closed her eyes tightly and then opened them, "Do you know how bad you just made me look? Do you really think that Vince is going to want to book me in another match like this now?"

"Come on, stop being so melodramatic, Rebecca," he rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm.

"I'm really starting to hate it when you call me that," she wrenched it from his grasp.

"You said you loved it," he countered with a stare.

She returned the glare, "Not anymore."

"Ugh... Becky," he took her arm again, "Let's just go."

"No," she ripped her arm away again. "I am not going, Cody!"

"Jesus Christ," he exhaled deeply and rolled his neck around on his shoulders. "I just rescued your ass because you were about to get wrecked and now you're pissed at me?"

"Cody!" Becky yelled at him. "Don't you get it? I don't WANT to be rescued, okay? I need to feel the pain. I have to take the hits, roll with the punches. You can't shelter me."

Cody reached for her once more, this time out of slight desperation, "Becky…"

"NO!" she refused once again and shoved him with all her might, causing him to stumble back slightly. "Do you hear me? Don't come near me in the ring… you'll just get in my way. I'm only human… and… you've just got to let me fall sometimes."

Becky's emerald eyes bore into his azure ones and then she shook her head, exiting the ring, and leaving Cody to watch her form retreat back up the ramp.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, Becky... surprise, surprise.**

**I appreciate: giftiebee, Copeland-Runnels Inc., Johnny, Nefertina-Shanf, Enigmatic Lotus Leaf, WWESupernatural102292, Becky (again), goddessofthenight, cassymae, and Queen Chaos-Hardy!!!!**

**Um... and to my various readers of all of my stories, where is the love for More Than Words?**

**Just wondering.**

**Danielle**


	6. Sympathy for the Devil

Cody slammed the door of the men's locker room shut and threw his elbow pad at the wall.

He had entered the Rumble at number fourteen and lasted well over twenty-four minutes, only to be eliminated by draw number twenty-nine, Triple H.

To Cody Runnels, Triple H was like the Bionic Man. No matter what injuries he sustained, he came back stronger. No matter what he did, everyone loved him.

In all honesty, he'd much rather have been tossed out of the ring by the returning John Cena, mainly because he was the eventual winner and was always nice to his girlfriend.

His girlfriend… his Rebecca.

As the somber Cody say down on the bench, the room now mostly cleared out as the pay-per-view had ended over two hours ago, his mind once again drifted back to her, as it had been doing all week.

In fact, they hadn't so much as spoken since the incident on Monday night. From what he'd heard from Mickie, she'd flown out to Wisconsin to visit some family and would be flying out to Philly tomorrow morning for RAW.

With a sigh, he began to unlace his boots.

That gave him less than twenty-four hours to figure out what he was going to say.

* * *

Becky threw herself backwards onto her bed, allowing her body to sink into the mattress. 

If only she hadn't said those three words, those three little-big words that had changed everything.

She smacked herself in the head, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

But he had said them back to her.

With his sapphire eyes glinting in the moonlight, Cody Garrett Runnels told her that he loved her and it had been the happiest moment of her life to date.

Now, where was he? In New York City, with everyone on the roster except for her.

Maybe Cody just needed some time.

Maybe he just needed some space.

But he _had_ said those three words back and that had to count for something…

Right?

* * *

Sympathy for the Devil. 

The song title had never made much sense to him before, but now, as he stood outside of the dressing room of the woman he considered to be Satan in heels, it was perfectly clear.

He reached up for the door and knocked twice in hopes that she was there.

Sure enough, the door peeled back and revealed a woman in tight jeans and a pink camisole whose eyes widened as he stood before her in a pair of loose fitting jeans and a light blue polo, "Cody?"

"Can we talk?" he asked her, his eyes catching hers a little above eye level.

"Yeah," the blonde nodded and pulled back the door for him. "You know, I never expected you to come looking for me of all people," she added as she shut the door.

"Neither did I," he sighed and sat down on the couch, silently praying she didn't follow suit.

Sure enough, she did, "What can I do for you, Cody?"

"Whoa…" he held up his hands, "That's not what I'm here for."

"Oh no?" she arched an eyebrow and raked her nails up his bare arm.

Cody sprung to his feet, "Damn it, Charlie!"

Her blue eyes darted upwards innocently, "What?"

"I come to you for help and…" he placed both hands firmly on the back of his head, "You know what? This was stupid of me. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Cody…" Charlie called to him as he pulled open the door, "Wait!"

"No, Charlie!" he shook his head firmly at her. "I'm already in enough shit with my girlfriend as it is."

As the door slammed shut, Charlie was left to wince as the sound echoed through the empty room.

She knew exactly what he was implying.

He meant that she was a slut, a whore… every single derogatory name that a person could throw her way.

Maybe it was the fact that he was the only guy that didn't look at her as a sexpot that it stung her worse than ever before, even though he hadn't exactly let the words exit his mouth. Maybe it was the fact that Cody Runnels was the only guy who thought, for just a fleeting moment, she could change.

And deep down, Charlie West knew that she could change.

The only question was… did she really want to?

* * *

The sound of Becky's cell phone vibrating on her nightstand knocked her out of her deep thought process and she swiped it from the dark wood. 

"Hello?" she answered it morosely.

"Hi, Becky," the unmistakable voice of the one and only Mickie James greeted her.

"Hey, Mick," Becky replied a little brighter than before. "What's going on?"

"Listen, I'm on my way to the hotel from the Rumble…" she trailed off. "And I uh… are you near anything fragile or of the glassy nature?"

"Uh…" Becky stumbled suspiciously, "No. Why?"

"Alright," the older woman sighed. "Well, I was just walking towards the exit of MSG and I saw Cody. Well, I wasn't the only one who saw him…

* * *

The muscular twenty-two year old trudged down the hallway of the Hilton to his hotel room and nearly ran right over Mickie on his way to his door. 

"Oh, Mickie…" he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his sneakers. "Hey."

"What do you want, Runnels?" she hissed back at him, her hand on her hip.

"Jesus Christ, Mickie," Cody did a double take. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

Mickie rolled her eyes, "Like you don't know."

"Oh," he nodded in understanding, "You mean Becky. It's all just a big misunderstanding, really. Have you spoken to her lately?"

"Becky? Aren't you looking for the _other_ West sister?"

"No," Cody shook his head, "Why would you think that?"

"Don't play coy with me, Cody," she jabbed a finger into his solid chest. "I saw you go into that Barbie doll bitch's locker room tonight. I just don't know how you can even BARE to look at yourself."

"Mickie," he reached up and pushed away her hand, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about," she folded her arms over her chest. "And now your girlfriend does too!"

Cody's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Mickie? You spoke to her? What did you say?"

"I told her exactly what I saw, Cody," she stated simply with a hint of defiance in her voice.

He exhaled sharply, "I suppose you didn't see what happened about five seconds later then?"

"Well, no…"

"I left," Cody replied. "I went to Charlie for help with Becky, realized just how stupid of an idea that was when she made a pass at me, and then came back here."

Mickie clapped a hand to her mouth and winced, "Cody… I think I did something really bad."

"Mickie James," he used her full name, "What the hell did you do?"

* * *

The Wachovia Center was packed with people, overly anxious to witness the fallout of the Royal Rumble. 

But not Cody Runnels.

The only fallout that he'd be experiencing was that from his girlfriend's ill-informed discovery that he had been cheating on her with her sister.

He'd been asking everyone if they had seen her all day, but unfortunately, no one, not even her best friend, Mickie James, had seen Becky.

Cody glanced at the clock… forty-five minutes until his match.

In the last two months, he'd grown accustomed to her being in his corner. Tonight, when he'd turn back to search for the green eyes of Rebecca West, he'd be met with the sight of Bob Holly.

What a disappointment.

* * *

_"JR… let's take a look at that again," Jerry Lawler addressed his commentary partner, "I don't think our cameras saw it the first time."_

_"It looks like Holly went over to take care of Marella," he surmised, watching the reply, "And distracted Cody Runnels long enough to allow Carlito to land the backstabber…"_

_"Carlito… two. Runnels and Holly… zero."_

* * *

"Becky, it's Mickie," the brunette sighed into her cell phone. "Listen, this is the eighth time you've ignored my call, so I'm going to leave you this voicemail. Please, I know that you want to just hang up the phone right now, but Becky… you need to keep listening… otherwise, you're going to make the biggest mistake of your life…" 

"Get your head in the game, kid," Holly shook his head at the young man. "You can't let a girl wreck you like this."

"Watch me," Cody shot back.

"Hey," Bob pointed a finger at him, "Don't you snap at me like that. I'm just trying to help."

"Help?" Cody stood up sharply. "You mean like you did during my match?"

"I was trying to take out Santino. If your girlfriend was there…"

Almost instantly, Cody's blue eyes blazed and he shoved Bob up against the wall, "Go ahead. Finish that sentence. I DARE you."

"Boy," Bob held back his own temper, "You better get your hands off of me before I break you in places you didn't know could be broken."

Cody's grip on Bob's shirt loosened and then ceased altogether, "Only because you're my tag partner, I'll let you go, but NO ONE, not even YOU, gets to talk about my girlfriend like that."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," the platinum blonde smoothed down his shirt, "She's not the one the whole roster is talking about."

"Great," the twenty-two year old cracked his knuckles, "Now everyone fucking thinks that I fucking cheated on my girlfriend with her fucking sister…"

"Not everyone."

Both Bob and Cody's heads turned in the direction of the feminine voice at the doorway.

"Becky," Cody breathed as he caught sight of her for the first time in days.

"Well, uh…" Bob grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "That's my cue," he added heading for the door and pushing it open. "Ms. West."

"Mr. Holly," she replied as he disappeared behind the closed door.

Now, it was just down to them.

* * *

"I can change," the blonde woman repeated like a mantra as she walked towards the parking lot. "I can change, I can change, I can… Hardy." 

"Hi, Charlie," the southerner stared at his well-painted shoes, in front of his rental car.

"Hi, Jeff," she smiled back at him genuinely and reached up to twirl her hair, but stopped herself and turned it into a wave. "How are you?"

"Good," Jeff nodded, his multi-colored hair moving with him, "Cold, but good."

"Yeah, I understand that," Charlie nodded with a chuckle, wrapping her pea coat tighter around her body. "You know, I never got to tell you how great your spot was on Raw a few weeks back. That Swanton Bomb…"

"Hurt like a bitch," he finished for her with a laugh of his own.

"I was going to say was horrifying to watch."

"Tell me about it," a female voice retorted from behind both Charlie and Jeff.

"Oh, hey," Jeff smiled and waved the young woman over. "Beth, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is Beth. She's my…"

"Girlfriend," the brunette finished for her boyfriend and extended a hand. "Jeff, come on… it's getting late. Can we go now?"

"Sure," he nodded and opened the door to the rental car.

Jeff got into the passenger's seat, still weak from wrestling the night before, and Beth slid into the driver's side.

As the car backed up, Jeff rolled down his window and smiled at her, "Bye, Charlie!"

"Bye…" she called out to him, but Beth floored the gas pedal and they tore out of the parking lot. "Jeff," she concluded with a sigh. "Yeah, Charlie. That went well."

* * *

Cody was the first to break the silence, "Listen, Becky…" 

She held a hand up to silence him, "I know."

"But how?" he asked, intently studying her face.

"Mickie," she stated simply, fumbling with the hem of her emerald green sweater.

_God, what a color._

"Oh," Cody nodded. "Right."

Once again, they delved into silence, with Becky staring at the floor and Cody staring at nothing but her, the green-sweatered, jeans-clad, emerald-eyed, raven-haired Rebecca West.

This time, it was Becky who broke the silence, "Kind of sucks when the result of your match is out of your control, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," she added sincerely. "There was no reason for me to leave and not tell you where I was going."

"I guess we both fucked up royally, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Me, when I didn't trust you to stand on your own…"

"And me when I guilted you into telling me you loved me…"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Cody halted her. "You didn't guilt me into anything."

Becky sighed, "Yes, I did, Cody. If I hadn't said it, would you have?"

"Not then, no…" he admitted. "But only because I didn't want you to freak out."

"Really?" her green eyes brightened.

"Really," he nodded with a smile. "Come on, Becky. I'm just like you," he added, covering the distance between them. "I don't say shit that I don't mean."

"I…"

"No," he placed a finger on her lips. "Just don't say anything."

A moment later, Cody's lips pressed onto Becky's for the first time in nearly two weeks. After a few seconds, he pulled away.

"I love you."

* * *

**A/N: So I know I've been quite a bit overdue on this story, but I'm just incredibly happy at the moment... for two reasons. Yay!**

**Oh, and Becky, I know you had a great time at ICW last night, so I hope this makes it a ton better.**

**And Charlie, you've been harassing me over this for days, so this is for you too!**

**And Julia, whose convinced that she harasses me about this story more than anyone else... for you too.**

**Danielle**


	7. Yellow

"Last one to the bottom of the slopes is Vince McMahon's illegitimate child!"

"Becky!" Cody called out to her as she began to head down the mountain. "Motherfucker!"

"Whoa, man," the twenty-two year old's friend, Jim, put a hand on his shoulder, "There are children present."

Cody repositioned himself in the snow and pulled down his black goggles, "Fuck children."

Moments later, Cody followed his girlfriend down the mountain.

"Hey!" Jim yelled after him and began his own descent. "Wait for me! I don't want to be Hornswoggle!"

* * *

"Just for the record," the spiky-haired wrestler approached his girlfriend, now standing at the bottom of the hill with her hands on her hips, "I KNOW who my father is." 

"I know, Cody," Becky laughed, sweeping her black hair from the front of her powder blue jacket to her back. "You demonstrated that when you handed Vince a condom on national television."

"Hey," he pulled off his goggles, "It was a Trojan Magnum. It wasn't just _any_ old condom, Becky."

"Cody," she rolled her green eyes at him, "It was yellow. I mean, I know that you like the color, but seriously… does EVERYTHING of yours have to be yellow?"

Cody snorted, "You've never complained before."

"Maybe not in front of you…"

"Hey, you two!" Jim, accompanied by their other friends Paul and PJ, skied up beside Cody. "What'd I miss?"

Becky smiled at him, "We're discussing our personal preference of condoms. Care to join us?"

PJ shook his head vehemently and stepped out of his skis, "We'll be inside."

"Yeah, inside," Paul echoed and did the same with Jim, walking past the bickering couple into the lodge.

Once they had left, Becky stepped out of her own skis and grinned at Cody, "Guess what?"

He rolled his blue eyes at her, "What?"

She stepped forward a few paces, closing the distance between them and bringing her blue jacket into near contact with his beige one, "So will we."

Cody reached into his back pocket and opened his black-gloved hand in front of him, "Yellow okay?"

"What the hell, Runnels?" her eyes widened as she looked at the small square in his hand. "What did you think we were going to do? Use it on the lift?"

"Well," he grinned boyishly, "If that was what you were into…"

Becky exhaled deeply and grabbed his other hand, "Fuck it. Let's go."

* * *

Cody grinned as he looked at the clock beside the bed. 

_4:30pm._

For a moment, his mind drifted back to his friends.

They were most likely still sitting in the ski lodge, completely unaware as to where he and Becky had disappeared to nearly three hours ago.

Still, knowing them, it was getting close to dinner time and they'd most likely send out the search party at any moment…

_Knock. Knock._

Right on time.

With a chuckle to himself, and a glance to the bathroom door, where the sound of running water was clearly being emanated from, Cody rolled out of bed and headed out of his and Becky's room for the cabin door.

After another series of knocks, he pulled the door open and found his three best guy friends on the other side, staring at him in his red and blue plaid boxers.

"Can I help you?" he raised his eyebrows at them, not even caring that people would most likely be walking up and down the sidewalk out front.

Paul spoke up first, "So when Becky said that you were discussing condom preferences, she really wasn't kid, was she?"

Cody heard a slight creaking sound behind him, "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Ask me what?" Becky's head, shoulders, and a little glimpse of a white towel appeared as Cody pulled the door back a little further, so she could peek into the hallway.

"Hey, babe," Cody planted a light kiss on her cheek and wrapped his right arm around her waist, mostly hidden from view. "We were just talking about condoms again and the boys here were curious about your preference."

"Oh," she smiled sweetly at him and then turned to the guys, "Well. If you must know, Trojan makes a wonderful one called the Magnum."

The guys in the hallway remained silent and Cody had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"You know," Becky nodded and spoke slowly, "The _yellow_ one."

Still, there was nothing but silence.

"Well," Cody broke the lull as Becky shrugged and headed back inside, "I'm going to go back inside and finish my six-pack. See you gentlemen later," he added with a wink and then shut the door.

"You better be down for dinner at six, Cody!" Paul yelled through the door. "Or I am coming up here after you!"

PJ's mouth dropped open, "Cody's got beer in his room! Why the hell didn't he put it in the fridge and share?"

Jim hung his head and shook it sadly, "Dude. It's not _that_ kind of six pack."

"What?" PJ cocked his head to the side and stared at his friend. "Oh."

* * *

As they rode in the rental from the airport to the Austin Hilton, Cody noticed that Becky had grown unusually silent. 

For the last four hours since they'd landed, she really hadn't spoken much.

And for Rebecca West, that was really saying something.

"What's wrong?" he asked from the driver's side.

"Nothing," she shook him off, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Not possible," Cody shook his head and tried to stay focused on the road. "You're never this quiet unless something's wrong. What is it?"

"Nothing," she repeated.

"Rebecca…" he trailed off, his tone dropping slightly.

_Shit… the R word._

"I don't know," Becky sighed, turning her focus away from the glass window. "I guess I'm not really used to coming back from vacation and going straight to work. I mean, we leave from Georgia, land in Colorado, take off from Colorado… and land in Texas. Doesn't that seem the least bit strange to you?"

"Well, no," he shook his head, "But then again, you have to consider the fact that my brother's entire gimmick in the WWE was that of an androgynous, makeup wearing film-junkie with a blonde wig and Tourette's… and that my father use to assure me that the birthmark on his stomach was from a dart board incident at a bar."

Becky couldn't help but chuckle slightly and smack him on the arm, "You know what I meant."

Cody nodded, "Yeah, I do… and it is strange, but didn't you do it last week when you came back from Wisconsin?"

"Not really," she replied, "I wasn't really on a vacation to begin with. It was more of a hiatus or a sabbatical. Definitely NOT a vacation," she added with a laugh.

"Point taken."

"You know I missed you, though. I'm glad we got to go to Aspen, take some time off. I think we really needed it, Codes," she acknowledged with a smile.

"I missed you too, Becks, but you already knew that, I guess."

"But I like hearing it sometimes too…"

Cody smiled and shook his head, "You know what I also missed?"

She tucked her right leg underneath her left, "What?"

"Kissing you," he replied, glancing at her momentarily.

"You did?" she tilted her head to the side.

"Didn't you watch any part of Raw last week…?"

"Truthfully?" Becky asked him, to which he nodded. "I got there just in time to see you lock up."

"That defeated the whole purpose of it," he snorted and shook his head for what seemed like the millionth time that trip.

"Number one, stop shaking your fucking head. You look like a bobble head doll," Becky ordered him firmly. "Number two… what the hell are you talking about?"

"I… uh…" Cody trailed off, refusing to look at her and blushing slightly.

"What did you do?" she asked him in a sing-song voice.

"Um, I…"

"You what?"

"I blew you a kiss through the camera!" he exclaimed quickly. "There, I said it. I blew you a kiss in hopes you'd see it."

Becky's green eyes sparkled, "You did?"

As Cody stopped at the traffic light, he turned to look at her, "Yeah."

She reached up and touched a hand to his face, "I'm sorry I missed it. Next time I'm not on Raw for any reason, I promise to watch it no matter what. DVR, Tivo, YouTube… whatever it takes, okay?"

Cody nodded as the light turned green, "Okay."

"Okay," she repeated after him and leaned in, her lips brushing his lightly.

Soon, cars began to honk as they lined up behind them.

Becky broke away from him, "Cody, the traffic light…"

"Fuck traffic lights."

* * *

"Hey, Becky?" a young woman, in her mid-twenties, appeared at the doorway of the locker room. 

"Yes?" the raven-haired beauty looked up from her duffel bag.

"Mr. McMahon wants to see you."

* * *

About ten minutes later, Becky found herself waiting in the makeshift office that could only belong to the one and only Vincent Kennedy McMahon. 

About two minutes later, the man himself walked into the room.

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted her and sat down behind the desk. "How are you?"

"I'm good, Vince. How about you?" she asked him with a sweet smile.

Truthfully, Vince was beginning to grow on her.

"Good, good," he nodded, his voice somewhat gravelly from being overused on tonight's first Raw taping. "How's your boyfriend?"

"Good," she replied again. "Excited to defend his title with Bob at No Way Out."

"Great to hear," Vince boasted. "I like that kid, reminds me of his Dad… after his WCW days, anyway. A lot like the brother too… anyway, a quick question for you. Do you mind staying late tonight?"

Becky shook her head, "As long as I don't have to disassemble the ring, not at all. Why?"

"Well, I want you to get some work in tonight… in the ring," Vince replied brightly and then smirked. "With your boyfriend."

Immediately, she perked up, "I get to team with Cody?"

"Yep. Against Santino and Maria."

Becky smirked, "Piece of cake."

"That's what I like to hear!" he replied and stood up. "Do me a favor and tell Cody that you've got another match tonight… and tell Bob, if he wants to stay, he can stay as well. I have to go tape a segment with Dylan… I'll send someone for you later on, alright?"

"Absolutely," she agreed and stood, shaking Vince's hand. "I won't disappoint you."

"I know. You never do, Becky."

* * *

"You good to go, babe?" Cody turned to her after finishing lacing up his boots. 

Becky rolled her neck around on her shoulders and looked herself over in the mirror.

While she wasn't dressed in the most conservative of outfits, her ensemble, which consisted of a pair of black PVC pants, with her initials in sparkling blue calligraphy on the thighs, an equally-sparkled blue racer back cropped top with her initials on the center of the back, and black wrestling boots, was definitely not the most racy of the Divas.

Well, despite the fact that all of her ribs were exposed, anyway.

"Never better, Cody. Never better."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lillian Garcia's voice resonated through the University of Texas arena. "Making his way to the ring with his tag partner, Becky West, from Marietta, Georgia, he is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes!" 

By the time Cody and Becky made their way to the ring, Santino and Maria were already waiting for them.

Or rather, Santino was waiting for them and Maria was staring off into space.

After a brief conference, it was decided that Becky would start off the match against Maria and both men stood in their respective corners.

The two women locked up and Becky instantly caught Maria in a headlock. Quickly growing bored, she threw Maria into the ropes and clotheslined her.

Maria got to her feet and Becky went to throw a right hand, but her opponent ducked and kicked her in the gut.

As she clutched her midsection, Maria pulled her to the ropes and landed a bulldog. Soon, she set Becky up for her trademark Bronco Buster, only to have Santino tap Maria on the shoulder to have a go.

Instantly, Cody began yelling in the corner, but considering the match was a mixed tag match, it was completely legal.

To torture Cody, he landed a rolling arm drag, causing her to land hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her.

_1 – 2- kickout._

Marella's eyes widened and he picked her up by the hair, but Becky quickly landed a facebuster and crawled to the corner, making the hot tag to Cody.

Cody barreled into the ring like a bull in a china shop, landing chops to Santino's chest.

He picked up the Italian and scoop slammed him onto the mat, taking off the black elbow pad of his right arm and chucking it into the crowd.

With a smirk, he bounced off of the ropes and landed an elbow drop right onto his opponent's throat.

Getting to his feet, he looked to his girlfriend in the corner and motioned for her to climb the ropes. With a few steps, he reached up his hand and gave her a high five, effectively tagging her into the match.

Cody stepped back and watched as Becky straightened up before launching herself into the air, corkscrewing herself onto Santino.

After a moment of recovery, she rolled back onto him and covered him for a count.

_1 – 2 – 3._

"Your winners, Cody Rhodes and Becky West!" Lillian announced as the refs raised their hands in victory.

"Not bad, Becky," he grinned proudly and embraced her in the ring. "Not bad at all."

"Not bad?" she scoffed at him and pulled away. "I'd like to see you corkscrew in the air and not break your damn neck."

Cody rolled his eyes at her, "Okay, Jeff Hardy."

Becky smirked at him deviously and he knew exactly what was coming, "Okay, mini Orton."

* * *

**A/N: I personally think that this is one of my favorite chapters of this story.**

**Thank you, Becky, for writing me the story I requested and providing me with YouTube and musical inspiration. For those of you who want to read the story in which I am a main character and involved... well, sorta... with John Cena, please check my favorite stories. It's called "I'm Fine Without You." Definitely read and review!**

**Thank you, Britt, for reviewing.**

**Thank you, Dom… for NOT updating… AGAIN.**

**Thank you, Charlie, for being excited about an update and I apologize that you're not in this one.**

**Thank you, Julia, for harassing me to the point of making me want to punch a hole in my wall… for the THIRD time, might I add.**

**And last, but certainly not least, thank you to Cody Runnels, without whom Becky's madness would not be possible.**

**Read and review, as always.**

**Danielle**

**PS: And in case you haven't noticed, I'm starting to name my chapters. Let me know what you think.**


	8. The Reason

It was weird being in another country on St. Valentine's Day, let alone one whose language was so drastically different from English.

Did they even _celebrate_ Valentine's Day in Japan?

No matter if they did, it didn't change the fact that Cody Runnels would have much rather been home with Becky in Marietta than tagging with Oscar the Grouch in Tokyo.

It wasn't even that he didn't like the city because truth be told, he loved it.

Mainly, it was the fact that his tag team partner, Bob Holly, was the only person who could make him miserable on Valentine's Day.

Or miserable in general.

Cody couldn't even understand how his wife, Sandra, lived with him on a daily basis.

He let out a laugh as he realized that he was rarely home to live with her… and that was probably why they were still married, thankfully for Bob without children.

"Cody Garrett Runnels! I am going to kill you!" a shrill voice called from the door as a pounding noise began resonating around the room.

The spiky-haired twenty-two year old shot up from the couch.

When Becky used his full name, Cody knew something was up.

When Becky threatened him, he knew that she meant it.

However, Becky had just done both.

Cody's blue eyes widened as he heard footsteps outside of the door.

He was fucked.

* * *

By this time last year, her hotel room had been filled with roses of all different colors, mainly pink, white, and red.

But as the statuesque blonde known as Charlie West lounged in her room at the Hilton, there wasn't a petal, let alone a leaf in sight.

It used to be a lot easier way back when, before… well, before this past year in general. Guys seemed to be a lot easier to find and if they were hard to hold onto, so be it. She didn't care.

Over the course of the last five years, she'd gotten any guy she wanted.

With a smile, she couldn't help but recall them all…

It all started with Jason Reso… he was her first in the WWE, still known as the WWF at the time, before the World Wildlife Foundation made the argument that everyone was confusing the Rock with a panda.

Then, she moved on to Adam Copeland. Quickly, though… she got bored.

Like brother, like brother… well, kind of.

Then there was Dave Bautista.

God, she adored that man in bed. Upon his entry to the WWE in 2002, he was pretty green in the business and rather lonely to boot.

He was the one who admitted to her that he had a weakness for women, despite the fact that he was in love with the one he was with.

Charlie didn't mind at all and told him that it would be their little secret. Although, his little indiscretion with Melina pissed her off a little more than she'd ever admit, Dave was still her go-to guy, even when they were on separate shows.

After Dave moved shows, Charlie moved onto Chris Irvine, known as Chris Jericho professionally. Although, that didn't last for too long after he got married… and had a son.

It was after this that Charlie began moving in on the rookies, counting the Bashams, Jindrak, O'Haire, and Cade amongst them.

Soon though, her taste for the rising stars continued.

After a brief fling with John Cena, which came after he broke off his long-time engagement, she quickly moved on again.

Then there was her particular favorite of them all: Randy Orton.

Steroids or not… the man was good. REALLY GOOD. And Charlie took advantage of every ounce of him.

She didn't care about his girlfriend, fiancée, drowned rat… whatever he wanted to call Samantha. With Randy it was all about one thing: sex.

And he was excellent at it.

But these days, after more than two years of messing around sporadically, it had become increasingly difficult to hide the affair from everyone, including his new wife.

With the internet dirt sheet websites become more and more trafficked, and more and more sources leaking information, it was only a matter of time before their relationship was leaked too.

While neither party had cared before, as Randy and Charlie's reputations were both less than stellar, it was clear that if they kept it up, his newfound image as a family man, with a child on the way, would be ruined.

And despite their differences, and no-strings attached agreement, she cared about Randy's career too much to let that happen.

She'd break it off one of these days… just not right now. Not while she didn't have anyone.

The conquest of Ken Anderson was merely an ego trip for Charlie, as he pretty much completed her lengthy list, and she didn't want to be labeled a home wrecker if she nailed him before the wedding.

That would just be tacky.

With a smirk, she glanced down at her perfectly manicured nails.

Yes, her list was just about complete. There wasn't a single person left in the locker room that she hadn't bedded.

Maybe that's what was getting to her as of late. She was growing bored and there was a definitive lack of fresh meat on the roster.

Correction… _attractive_ fresh meat on the roster.

Sure, there was Cody Rhodes, whom Charlie had her crystalline blue eyes on the moment he walked through the arena doors for the first time, but he was her sister's guy.

And despite any current ill-feelings towards her younger sister, she couldn't do that to Becky.

Morals aside, Charlie still knew that blood was thicker than water.

And the West bloodline ran through both of their veins.

* * *

The door flew open and smacked into the wall with a loud thud.

"Hey, baby," Cody rose to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck as his girlfriend blocked the doorway, which had now been closed off completely.

"Don't you 'hey, baby,' me, asshole," Becky scowled at him.

"Shit," he mumbled and ran a hand over his hair. "What did I do?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Something incredibly fucking stupid, even for you."

Cody chewed on the inside of his cheek as he struggled to come up with something that he had conscientiously done wrong over the last twenty-four hours… but came up with nothing.

"I'm drawing a blank, here… give me a hint?"

Becky's emerald eyes darkened at him, "This is not the time for a fucking guessing game, Runnels."

"Okay, so what _is_ it time for?" he raised his eyebrows at her, but then began to regret the words almost immediately.

"In a moment… it'll be time for me to rip your favorite appendage from your body," she retorted sharply, not missing a beat.

If there was anything he knew not to do in life, it was antagonize Rebecca West. She'd come back at him a thousand times faster and a million times more vicious.

So why was he ignoring every instinct in his body?

"Whoa, whoa," Cody cringed, his denim-clad legs curling inwards at the thought, "No need for that. It's your favorite part too."

"No, it's not," she came back at him even faster. "You want to know what it really is?"

Cody nodded, "Sure."

"Your eyes," Becky stated plainly and then covered the distance between the two of them, staring into them. "Because no matter what your mouth says, they never lie."

Suddenly, fear washed over his entire body.

"Alright…"

"I'm going to ask you this once and if you lie, Cody…" she trailed off, holding his gaze firmly, "So help me, God…"

"Go ahead," he replied softly. "Ask away."

"Is there someone else?"

* * *

The boys today in the WWE, whom she had yet to turn into men, anyway, seemed to be of higher moral standard then they used to be.

It was easy back in 2001 and 2002. She'd show interest in a guy, turn on the charm, and he was putty in her hands. A hotel room romp later... wham, bam, thank you, m'am… it was done.

Things were so damn complicated these days.

Charlie rose from her position on the couch and sat down in front of the vanity.

Upon her debut, people compared her looks to that of Torrie Wilson.

At the time, when Torrie was young and fresh, one of the most beautiful women in the WWE, it was a comparison that she adored.

Now, though, she would vomit at the mere thought of it.

At thirty-two years old, the Boise-native needed more makeup that Joan Collins needed cosmetic surgery and would be on her way out soon enough.

Thankfully, within a year, all comparisons had ceased and now she was the Diva that people were comparing rising stars to.

After another quick glance in the mirror, she noticed that her makeup had faded slightly.

Reaching for her eyeshadow brush, Charlie dropped it from her hands and let it fall to the floor as another thought hit her like a ton of bricks.

If Becky was in line for a title shot, could she be on her way out too?

* * *

"Why would you even ask me that?"

"Just answer the damn question, Cody!" Becky continued the question. "Are you cheating on me with someone else?"

"No," he replied firmly, his sapphire eyes boring into her emerald ones. "There is no one else but you."

For a moment, Becky continued to study his eyes, looking for every answer they could provide.

Finally, she got the response that she was looking for.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Thank God," he sighed and wiped away at his forehead.

"No, no, no…" she wagged a finger at him, "Don't think you're off the hook yet. You've still got some major explaining to do."

Cody chuckled at her, envisioning what Becky might look like as redheaded as Lucille Ball, and sat down on the couch, "And why is that?"

Becky frowned at him, unable to tap into the mental picture in her boyfriend's brain, "Because the Crispy Bitch got her flowers before I got mine."

"The Crispy Bitch?" Cody's eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at her.

_The Crispy Bitch… the Crispy Bitch… oh._

"You mean Melissa?"

"Yeah, I mean Melissa, Runnels," her hand quickly traveled to her hip. "I want to know why she got flowers from you because I'm sure there's an incredibly practical reason as to why you sent her any… and why she got hers before me?"

"Becky," Cody stood up and took her hands in his, "Number one, your surprise is waiting back at the hotel room. Number two… I never sent her _anything_."

"But on her Myspace… there's a picture," she tried to defend herself. "It's of her and her roses… and I even signed onto your account so that I could further investigate it all. There's a card and everything!"

"I swear to you, Rebecca," Cody assured her and placed a kiss on her forehead, "I NEVER sent her those roses…"

"But if you never sent them… then who did?" Becky looked up at him with cloudy green eyes.

For a moment, both of them tried to think of someone who could have sent them.

"Motherfucker," Cody shook his head as it hit him.

"You know who sent them?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "And so do you…" he added, his eyes attempting to transfer the answer into her brain.

A half-smile crossed her face and they both nodded their heads, "P.J."

* * *

"Motherfucker, I am going to kill you!" Becky sniped into Cody's cell phone as he drove back to the hotel room.

"Whoa… whoa… whoa…" P.J. tried to defend himself on the other end of the phone. "It's not my fault that you can't take a joke."

Cody tried to fight the smile playing on his lips. By the end of the conversation, he knew that P.J. would have a new hole in his body.

"It's not my fault that you don't get laid enough to know that condoms come in three or six-packs," she countered spitefully.

The smile had officially turned into incredibly loud laughter at her retort.

"Fuck you, Runnels," P.J. yelled at his friend, whom he could clearly hear in hysterics. "That's not funny."

"Yeah, it is, man," his friend replied, still chuckling.

"You know what, you're officially off of my top eight," the other Georgia native stated angrily.

"I guess you'll have to find some other way to get people to your page now, P.J. I mean, once you stop commenting Cody, none of his fans will even care to look for his response on your page," Becky informed him with a smirk on her face.

"Fuck you too, Becky," P.J. shot back again, unable to muster up with any more comebacks.

"No thanks, Cody already does that for me," she added, her voice dripping with sarcasm like sap from a tree. "Speaking of which, we're at the hotel. I've got to go. Bye, P.J.!"

And with that, she hung up the phone.

* * *

"No, no… not me," Charlie assured herself, fixing her perfectly lined lashes. "They love me too much here."

Once again, she stared into the reflective glass.

Who really loved her in the WWE?

Not Adam Copeland. Not Chris Irvine. Not John Cena. Not Ken Anderson.

Not Dave Bautista. Not Randy Orton.

Not even her own sister loved her.

A lone tear scraped down the porcelain skin of Charlotte West, as she came to the realization that she was all alone and not even a night with Dave or Randy could make her feel any more whole inside.

She was empty.

She was cold.

She was unloved.

And on a holiday meant for lovers, created by greeting card companies, Charlie couldn't help but wonder where the one man who wasn't on her list actually was… and what he was doing in the absence of his significant other at the moment.

A knock on her hotel room door caught her attention and she let out a sigh.

More than likely, the 6'4" chiseled statue that was Randy Orton was on the other side, looking for a little fun in the foreign country, where they could have a secret rendezvous with little repercussions.

But in her saddened state, not even a tryst with Randy could cheer her up tonight.

Charlie smoothed down her dark blue jeans and baby blue tee shirt as she stood up from the bed and walked to the door.

"Listen, I'm kind of having a bad night…" she started, pulling the door open, only to stop mid-sentence once it was open.

There he was… the man on her list.

"Hey," he greeted her with a charming smile.

"Hi," Charlie smiled back at him with her pearly whites. "You're not who I expected."

"Oh, you're expecting someone?" he asked her and then nodded slowly. "I'll leave you alone then…"

"No, wait," she halted him. "I just… I just thought you'd be someone else. I'm not expecting anyone, actually."

"Oh, okay. Cool," he replied brightly.

"Do you want to come in or something?"

He shook his head, "No, that's alright."

"I swear, I just cleaned it all up… it's spotless…" she trailed off.

"It's fine, thank you anyway," he laughed at her. "Listen, everyone has plans for tonight and I think I'm one of maybe three guys on the roster who is awake right now. Do you want to come hang out with me, watch a movie or something?"

"If you guys are having a boys' night, I don't want to intrude…"

"It's just me tonight, Charlie," he assured her with another smile. "Look, I know you're having a bad day. I knew it the moment you walked into the arena tonight. And me? I'm having a pretty bad day myself. Since tomorrow's a free day and sleeping in is definitely an option I intend to pursue, I just figured that maybe a night in with some movies and video games is exactlywhat we both need."

Charlie leaned against the doorframe, "You want to hear something funny?"

"Sure," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I couldn't even tell you the last time I played a video game," she admitted with an embarrassed grin.

"All the more reason you should come," he encouraged her. "Come on, it'll be fun. I'm a spontaneous guy."

"What makes you think that?" she laughed and then tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Alright, I'm in. Let me just grab my cell phone."

"I'll wait here…"

"You know, you can come in for five seconds," Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "I don't exactly have my laundry strewn about, you know."

"I like the carpet out here better though," he laughed. "The colors are much nicer than the brown crap you have for flooring."

Charlie swiped her phone and key card from her nightstand and walked to the door, "You would definitely say something like that, Jeff."

Jeff flashed a classic Southern grin at the blonde as she shut the door behind her, "I believe I just did."

In her head, she couldn't even believe that she was going back to Jeff Hardy's hotel room without the slightest intention of sex in the back of her mind. Perhaps... he'd be the reason she'd change after all.

* * *

"Cody, you can take your hands off of my eyes!" Becky tried to pry his hands off of her face as they walked down the hallway. "I am _not_ going to peek."

"I trust you, Becky," he replied, "But not _that_ much. I want this to be a surprise."

"Fine," she pouted as they approached the doorway. "Can I look _now_?"

"No," Cody refused as he pulled out his key card and swiped it before opening the door. "Okay, you ready?"

"Mhmm," his girlfriend nodded eagerly.

He released his strong hands from her eyes, "Open."

Becky gratefully obliged and her jaw dropped as she caught sight of the room.

From the door to the bed was a long trail of red and white rose petals. The rose petals were strewn all over the bed, as well.

Deep red and peach candles were lit all over the room and were casting a dim glow around the room. However, the two sources of bright light, the lamps on either side of the bed, were covered by two red pieces of chiffon, draping the bed in a crimson glow.

Lastly, there were five balloons lining the pillows near the headboard, four were red and white latex, the center one was a red Mylar heart.

"Cody…" Becky trailed off in awe, her emerald eyes sparkling in the candlelight. "This is beautiful."

"A beautiful room for a beautiful girl," he beamed down at her as she turned around to face him and pressed her lips against his.

A few moments later, he pulled way, "Wait, wait. Not yet. You have presents to open first."

"Presents?" her eyebrows raised at the notion. "Where?"

Cody walked a few feet ahead of her and picked up a small, white baton with a pin point on the end, "In the balloons."

"You mean, my presents are inside the balloons?" her eyes widened as her smile broadened.

"Mhmm," he nodded and handed her the popper. "What are you waiting for? Go pop those balloons!"

"Gladly," Becky agreed and walked over to the bed. "I'll save the heart for last."

"Good plan," he laughed and watched as she popped the first balloon.

"Codes," she cooed as she finished reading the rolled up piece of paper. "You bought me a star?"

"Yeah," Cody smiled at her. "That way, whenever we're not together, I can look up at the star and think of you… and maybe, you'll look up at it and think of me."

"Always," she whispered to him and turned to the next balloon, popping it with ease.

"Now, this isn't as romantic as a star, but…"

"Stop," she halted him and held up the gift. "Is this the key to your house?"

Her boyfriend nodded, "Yes."

"Never say you're not romantic," she shook her head at him and popped the third balloon.

"This goes with your last present," he informed her as she pulled out the thin jewelry box from the latex.

"Cody," she sighed as she opened the box. "Is that a key on the bracelet?"

"You're full of questions tonight," he chuckled. "But yes, it is. It's a charm bracelet. That key is your first charm. I intend to get you a new one to add every Valentine's Day."

"It's beautiful," Becky remarked as she linked it around her wrist. "I'll wear it all the time."

"Just don't wear it in the ring, okay? I know that it's sturdy, but I don't think it's been Phoenix-tested yet…"

"You're an idiot…" she rolled her eyes at him and popped the last of the latex balloons, finding another small jewelry box, which she quickly opened. "Whom I happen to love."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he chuckled, for what seemed like the millionth time that night."

She held the delicate snowflake charm in the palm of her hand, "I thought you'd only get me charms on Valentine's Day."

"I lied."

"That's okay. I like it too much to stand on my principles and make you take it back," she shrugged her shoulders and attached it to the bracelet already on her wrist.

"Okay, last one, Becks," Cody noted with a chuckle.

"Last one," the raven-haired woman concurred and then popped the heart balloon, which released a small jewelry box. "Did you just sit in a jewelry store for an entire day?"

"Not an _entire_ day," he grinned boyishly at her. "Open it."

Becky's hands ran over the red velvet of the box and then slowly, pried it open.

Inside, nestled in the box, was a looping band of white gold with a star on each end, one raised slightly above the other, a half-carat diamond resting in the center of each.

Becky bit down on her lower lip, "Oh, Cody…"

"It's a promise ring," Cody explained to her as he sat on the edge of the bed, a few rose petals falling to the floor. "I mean, I know we haven't really been together than long and I'm not sure where life is going to take us. I'm twenty-two years old and I'm not ready to get married right now, but despite being young, I'm old enough to know that I love you. I love you more than I ever thought that I could possibly love another human being. So this ring…" he trailed off, taking the ring from the box and holding it in his fingers. "This ring is my promise to you that I will remain faithful and that no matter how far away we are from each other, for whatever reason, I will always keep you in my heart. I will look up at your star… and I will think of you. I want you to look at this star… and think of me. Will you wear this ring, Becky?"

Tears began to pool in Becky's emerald eyes and she tried to fight them through her smile, "Of course."

Cody slid the ring onto her finger and wiped away at her tears with the pads of his thumbs, "I love you, Rebecca West."

For the first time in a while, she didn't even mind that he had called her by her first name. Maybe that was all part of the change that he had been the catalyst of.

Becky glanced down at the ring and then looked back into Cody's deep blue eyes, "I love you too, Cody Runnels."

With a smile of his own, Cody stroked the side of her face with his hand and leaned in, lightly pressing his lips to her own, connecting once again with the woman he had every intention of spending the rest of his life with.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, Becky... how was that?**

**Review!**


	9. Fall to Pieces

The door slammed shut, causing Becky to nearly jump out of her skin.

He'd been like this for almost three weeks now.

First, he was pissed off that he had been relegated to Heat.

Then he was angry because Bob wouldn't let him get the pin in their tag match for the first time in… oh… EVER.

This week, it was his loss to Carlito in the Money in the Bank Qualifier match that drove Cody off of the edge.

He gritted his teeth, pounding his fist against the steel door and leaving it there, "What the fuck do I do now?"

The problem was that Becky didn't even know where to begin when it came to answering that question.

Usually, it always went the same way:

Becky was pissed off.

Cody fixed things.

End of story.

But now that the tables were turned, her brain was drawing an absolute blank.

"Fuck this," he decided and pounded his palm into the metal. "I'm going to find Bob."

The raven-haired woman braced for the inevitable door slam and cringed after it occurred.

With a sigh, she picked up her own duffel bag and walked out the door.

_I need help.

* * *

_

"That's all?"

Becky's green eyes darkened, "What do you mean _that's all_? I'm having a serious problem here, Mickie!"

The equestrian shook her head, "Wow, Becky. It hasn't occurred to you at all, has it?"

"What hasn't?"

"Becky," Mickie rolled her deep brown eyes. "You've got Vince wrapped around your damn finger. Why not take advantage of it?"

With a slightly twisted smile, she laughed, "I love you, Mickie James."

"And here, I thought that _I_ was the nice one."

* * *

"Come in," a deep voice bellowed, causing the young woman to push through the door.

"Hi, Mr. McMahon," the young woman smiled at him sweetly.

"Miss West?" his eyebrows elevated as she sat down before him. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," she nodded and then folded her hands in her lap. I'm having problems with my flight arrangements…"

Vince's eyes flickered quickly, "Eh… don't worry about it too much. When you get here, you get here."

Her eyebrows furrowed, "But if I get here late, we can't just push the match back. Now, I'm all for supporting the Women's Division, but… I think the fans might be a little pissed if two girls finish off the show…"

"Miss West," he halted her and tilted his head, tugging on his collar, "You won't be on RAW next week."

"Ohh…" she nodded in understanding. "I'll be on in two weeks, I get it. That's good. It'll give me the weekend to just relax."

Vince shook his head, "You're not understanding me. You're not wrestling next week… or the week after that… and probably not the week after that."

"So I'm going to have to wait a month to get my number one contendership?"

Vince sighed.

This was going to be a lot harder than he'd previously thought.

"You're not the number one contender anymore, Miss West."

"W-w-what?" she stammered.

"I'm sorry, but you know how it is," he shrugged. "Plans tend to change rather fast in the WWE."

Her brilliant eyes began to water, "Yeah, I know how it is."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and the tell-tale click of the unlocking door.

But the young woman before Vince McMahon didn't care who had entered her boss's office.

She had been told for a while now that she'd be getting the push for Beth's title, even if it meant being the underdog… continuously. Now, it wasn't going to happen and as a result, her world and her career were falling to pieces.

Still, she was certain it couldn't get any worse.

"If it isn't my number one contender!"

But it did.

Vince smiled, "What can I do for you, Becky?"

"Oh, I didn't know you were busy," the younger woman began to retreat. "I'll come back later."

Vince got to his feet, "No, no… Charlotte here was just leaving. Isn't that right, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded, her blonde hair falling weakly around her face, "Excuse me."

The Diva got to her feet and turned around, slowly walking towards the door.

Approaching her younger sister at the doorway, the blonde refused to look up at her.

Instead, she stopped directly next to her.

"I hate you."

* * *

Cody had just left the men's locker room and was in no better condition than when he'd first walked inside.

Sometimes, Bob pissed him off even more than anyone else could even think of irking him.

Sure, he was his mentor.

But, GOD… he was an asshole sometimes.

Slamming that door behind him too, he took off into the arena hallway and ran smack into another large body, sending them both spilling onto the incredibly cold, tiled floor.

Cody began to pull himself off the floor and caught sighed of the platinum blonde hair that he was certain didn't belong to his tag team partner.

"Watch where you're going man!"

"Ken?"

The older wrestler got to his feet and cocked his head to the side, surprised to see him, "Cody?"

* * *

That was it.

It might as well have been announced to the press.

Charlotte West's life was officially crumbling before her eyes.

Tearing through the locker room, the statuesque blonde took an arm and in once swoop, transferred all of her cosmetics from the counter top of her maple dresser into her duffel bag.

After turning around, she picked up all of her neatly folded ringwear and haphazardly tossed it into the bag, as well.

With a huff, she pivoted on her black Manolo Blanik heels and stormed out of her dressing room.

By the time she arrived at her rental car, her life felt as though it had been shattered.

And if that wasn't bad enough, she had to run face first into a light post.

But then again, light posts weren't warm and didn't have hands to hold onto you with, now did they?

* * *

"Yeah, man," the spiky-haired twenty-two year old nodded.

Ken clapped him on the shoulder, "Sorry I was such an asshole before. It's been a rough night."

Cody agreed, "Been the same for me."

"You first…" he instructed him.

"I hate creative."

"Dude, keep your damn voice down," his eyes bulged out at him.

"And what if I don't?!?"

"Hey," Ken looked at him with a harsh glare. "Don't you go all Randy Orton on me, kid. Creative _will_ blacklist your ass in a heartbeat. STEPHANIE MCMAHON will blacklist your ass entirely."

"At this point," the young wrestler through his hands up in the air, "I just don't care."

"Ahhh…" the Wisconsin-native nodded in understanding. "I know exactly what this is about?"

The younger wrestler's blue eyes sparkled for a brief moment, "You do?"

"Absolutely," Ken concurred. "I went through this too, everyone does. Well, most everyone anyway. It's about the way you're being booked, isn't it?"

Cody let out a half-hearted chuckle, "How'd you guess?"

"I know the signs. Listen, kid… everyone here? Well, not everyone here can be Randy or John. Sometimes, shit just aligns for all of us and the wrestling gods are smiling on us," Ken explained. "And other times? Well, we just gotta wait our turn. You and me both, man. But… you've got an advantage on me that I will never have in my entire career."

"My father," he rolled his eyes, sick of hearing about the "American Dream" that he was destined to carry on.

"Well, yeah," his head bobbed back and forth on his shoulders. "Sort of."

"Sort of?" his eyebrows arched. "He _is_ my dad. There is no question."

"No, no… I know that. You, Cody… you've just got wrestling in your blood," he explained in exasperation. "That's Randy Orton. That's the Rock. That's the McMahons. Blood ties have made wrestling exactly what it is today."

"You're right," he relented to his point of view. "But that doesn't make it any better."

The platinum blonde scoffed, "You're preaching to the choir here, Cody. I was the one that tried to convince Vince I was his illegitimate son."

"Touché."

* * *

"Ow," she whimpered as she pressed a cool hand to her forehead, now throbbing in pain from the impact.

"I'm so sorry," the man holding her steady apologized. "I was off in my own world, I tend to do that sometimes."

"What? Bump into people?" she retorted, still in pain.

"No," he chuckled. "Zone off. You alright? Maybe I can take you inside, get someone to look at that for you?"

Charlie shook him off weakly, "I'll be okay."

"At least let me see," he reached for her face, his voice laced with a southern drawl.

_Oh my God. It can't be…_

"No, I'm fine," the blonde attempted to swat his hands away.

"Just hold still," the man instructed her, tilting her chin upward to get a better look at her.

Instantly, their eyes locked.

"Charlie?"

_Bingo._

She blushed slightly, "Hi, Jeff."

* * *

"This is getting to be ridiculous," Becky sighed, throwing herself backwards onto Maria's double bed.

"Calm down," the brunette tried to ease her friend's worries. "It'll blow over in another day or so."

She shut her green eyes tightly, "Thanks for the attempts, Maria, but nothing will settle until next Monday night, at the earliest. And God forbid Cody doesn't even have a match… oh my God. I don't even want to THINK about that."

Mickie walked out of the bathroom with a freshly-washed face to join in the conversation, "Do you want to crash here tonight?"

"No thanks," Becky waved her off. "Cody's not a danger to himself… or anyone else for that matter. Well, except maybe Carlito. He's just more frustrated than anything else, really. I'll be fine."

"Well, if you need anything," Mickie placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "You know we're only four rooms away."

"Thanks."

"Look on the bright side, Becks," Maria sat down across from the green-eyed beauty and smirked, "You get to have angry sex tonight."

Becky slowly rose to a seat position and grinned.

Maria was one-hundred percent right.

* * *

Jeff intently studied the face of the twenty six year old blonde standing before him.

Normally, Charlotte West's face was nearly, if not completely, flawless and usually, that came naturally.

There was never an uneven amount of eyeshadow, too much blush, or not enough bronzer.

No, Charlie had her makeup down to a science.

But tonight, there was mascara running down her tear-stained cheeks and her eyes were red, swollen, and puffy.

Sometimes was definitely amiss.

"Charlie," he wiped away at one of her tears with the pad of his thumb, "What happened?"

"It's nothing," she murmured and shook him off. "I'm fine."

"Charlotte West," Jeff placed a black-nailed hand on her shoulder, sending chills down her spine. "In all of our years together here, never once have I seen you cry. Not ONCE. Something had to have happened to make you feel this way and I want to know what it was."

"I went to speak to Vince today," she began and then exhaled deeply. "I was having some problems with my flight arrangements and I wanted to make sure I'd get to Wisconsin in time for my match next week."

"Alright," he nodded. "Then what happened?"

"Vince told me that I'm not wrestling next week…"

"Charlie, that's not so bad…"

"OR," she interred somewhat firmly, "The week after that. Or the week after that."

Jeff wiped away another rolling black tear, "So? Vince is just giving you some time off…"

"No, Jeff," Charlie shook her head sadly and bit down on her lip lightly. "He's giving away my title shot. He's giving away my title shot to my sister."

The young southerner picked her pink duffel bag off of the floor and slung it over her shoulder, "You're in no condition to drive back tonight. I'll arrange for the car to be taken back to Enterprise. I'm driving you to the hotel and you're going to stay with me."

"But…" Charlie began to pout.

_Why am I protesting?_

"No buts," he cut her off and grabbed her by the hand. "You're coming with me."

* * *

Becky slid her key into the electronic lock and waited for the light on the silver plate to turn green.

She opened the door briskly, entering the bright hotel room that she was currently sharing with her boyfriend.

"Listen, Cody, I spoke to Vince…" the black-haired woman began, only to stop dead in her tracks as she caught sight of her bed.

On the queen sized bed, Cody had already passed out underneath the blankets.

The twenty-two year old Diva sighed, "So much for angry sex."

* * *

**A/N: Alright, Becky… the pen is in YOUR hands now.**

**And Char, I hope you like this one.**

**I expect long reviews from you both!**

**AND everyone else for that matter.**

**Danielle**


	10. Fix You

Becky sat down on the metal folding chair in her dressing room and began to twirl the ring on her left hand around her ring finger.

The last week or so had been particularly difficult for Cody, as his TV time had been lagging in recent weeks.

But Vince had sworn to her that he'd have some sort of a capacity this week and that he'd do his best to put him on RAW in another capacity the following week.

So this week had arrived… as had her homecoming to Wisconsin and there was still no sign of Cody anywhere in the arena.

Sure, persuading Vince had kind of been easy on her part. After all, Vince _was _wrapped around her finger these days, but still… she'd look like an idiot if Cody didn't show up. And the second-generation superstar would look like an asshole if he no-showed.

Finally, she ceased her antics with the piece of jewelry he had given her a month earlier and picked up her cell phone.

There had to be a reason that Cody had left her to her own devices at the hotel room and then decided not to show up to his usual warm-ups with Bob.

And in Becky's opinion, it had better been a damn good one.

But as her fingers danced over the familiar numbers, a loud bang coming from next door caused her to jump to her feet and head to the room next door.

* * *

Charlie was smiling for what seemed like the first time in weeks as she entered the RAW dressing room that was hers and hers alone, despite the loss of her number one contendership to her younger sister.

For the last week, all she'd been doing was reliving that one night spent in Jeff Hardy's room and while nothing of her normal routine had gone down, it didn't matter.

She loved every moment that she spent with him.

_"I can't believe that she'd do that to me…"_

"_Charlie…" Jeff halted her with a hand in the air. "We're not going to discuss this anymore. Not tonight, anyway."_

_The blonde's eyes narrowed, "But isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Talk about it, I mean."_

_His multicolor hair followed as he shook his head, "Only if you want to sit around moping all day. I prefer the "taking it off your mind" approach. So that's what we're going to do."_

"_What exactly ARE we going to do, Jeff?" her blue eyes fixated on him suspiciously._

"_Play ding dong ditch…" he shrugged with a childlike innocent. "Or rather, knock knock ditch."_

"_Jeff!" she yelled loudly as she sat down on one of the double beds. "We can't do that!"_

"_Oh yes we can," he smiled mischievously. "I used to do it all the time. Come on, it'll be fun."_

"_I don't know…" Charlie trailed off wearily, only to have him continue to grin at her. "Oh, alright. So who do we start with?"_

_His smile quickly turned into a smirk and he locked his green eyes onto her blue ones._

_They both nodded in unison, "Orton."_

And she loved the smile he brought to her face.

Quickly though, as she heard something hit on the other side of her wall and shatter, the smile faded and she rushed out of the room to see what all of the commotion was about.

* * *

"Watch where you're going," a feminine voice snapped at Becky with a disdainful tone she'd know anywhere.

"Maybe you should next time, Barbie doll," Becky hissed back at her older sister. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I heard a crash against the wall… wanted to know what the hell was up," she crossed her arms over her ample chest.

The raven-haired sister smirked, "Wow, Char. I didn't know you had a little Mother Theresa in you."

"Wow, _Rebecca_," the blonde mused sarcastically, "I didn't know you could actually defend yourself… the way Cody had to come and save you from Beth Phoenix."

SMASH!

"Shit," Charlie mumbled and knocked on the men's locker room door as a few more of the Divas, including Mickie, Melina, and Jillian, gathered around behind them.

The locker room door pulled back to reveal Chris Irvine, known as Chris Jericho inside, and outside, the WWE ring.

"Can I help you… uh… ladies?" he asked, running a hand through his blonde hair.

Charlie nodded, "Yeah… what the hell is going on in there?"

"It sounds like a huge-ass fight between a _lot_ of people," Becky added, folding her arms over her chest as well.

"Well, I think it's a solo fight, girls," Chris sighed heavily and winced as another object collided with a wall. "Or maybe a fight with a chair."

Becky closed her eyes for a brief second, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was, "What is Cody doing _now_?"

The wrestler/rock star shook his head at the younger sister, "It's not Cody, Becky. You can go… it has nothing to do with him."

"I'd like to say and find out exactly who is causing all of the commotion, thank you," she informed him firmly. "What is going on…?"

"It's Jeff."

For a brief moment, both Becky and Chris could have sworn that they saw the normally strong, sound-minded Charlotte West shatter before them.

"Jeff?" she whispered in question.

Chris nodded, "Yes."

"What happened?"

The blonde wrestler bit down on his lip and placed a hand on the statuesque Diva's arm, "Charlie, I think you need to come inside with me. Mickie, Jillian, Melina, Becky… go warm up for tonight. There's nothing to see here."

Her blonde locks moved slightly as she nodded in agreement and weakly disappeared behind the locker room door, which closed shut behind her.

* * *

"God, she's such a slut," Jillian groaned in disgust as she began walking down the hall with the other three women. "Seriously, single men aren't enough anymore? Now she has to go for the married ones too?"

"Correction, Jillian," Melina interjected herself into the conversation. "Randy's married."

"Technically, you're both wrong… he wasn't married when it started," Becky added nonchalantly.

The three Divas beside her stopped dead in their tracks and looked at her.

She returned their stares, "What?"

"You've _known_?" Mickie's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

"Please, Mickie," Becky fanned a hand at her friend. "I've known every single one of them. I could give you every last name, first name, middle initial, and number in Charlie's little black book from high school until now."

Jillian's interest was quickly piqued, "You mean to tell me that she's been with Randy more than once?"

"Honey, please," the youngest Diva laughed. "They've been together more times that the four of us could count on all of our fingers and toes put together."

"But what about Randy's wife… and unborn child?" Mickie asked in shock.

She shook her head, "They're not together anymore, not since Sam got pregnant anyway. Way back when, Charlie and Randy genuinely cared for each other."

Melina's eyes lit up at the possibility, "You mean they dated?"

"Fuck no!" Becky scoffed at the notion. "Both of their egos were way too damn big for that. They had places to go, people to see, things to… er… do."

"But you said…"

"Doesn't mean they never cared about each other, Mel. Randy and Charlie share something that he and Sam will never ever have."

"And what's that?"

Becky ran a hand through her hair and began walking once more, "An understanding."

* * *

The noises only got louder as she sat down on one of the benches in the locker room, but they weren't coming from the room that they had all assumed they had.

No, the noises were coming from the room BEHIND the men's locker room.

And that was the office of none other than Vince McMahon.

And that… couldn't be good.

"Charlie," Chris addressed her softly, "I didn't want to be the one to have to tell you this, but I think it's best that I do."

"Tell me what?" her blue eyes looked up at him, ready to spill over with tears at any given second.

While in her early days of the WWE, she'd never really had more than a fleeting fling with Chris, he'd been the only one, aside from maybe Randy and Dave, who actually spoke to her afterwards.

BUT… Chris was the only one who had seen her as more than a sex object afterwards and ignored their past history.

Perhaps, he was the only one, besides Randy Orton, who actually knew her best.

Correction, he was the only one, besides Randy Orton AND Jeff Hardy, who knew her best.

His eyes couldn't even meet hers.

She shook her head sadly and bit her lip to keep the tears from flowing, "He did it again, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded, still avoiding her gaze. "He did."

Charlie clicked her tongue and reared her head towards the shared wall, "That's him, isn't it?"

"It is."

"When did he find out?" she asked monotonously.

"About twenty minutes ago."

"When did _you_ find out?"

"About twenty minutes before he did. Stephanie let it slip," he shrugged. "It's amazing what a pregnancy can make a woman do."

Her head dropped to her hands and muffled her voice, "So what do I do now?"

"If it were anyone but Jeff Hardy, Char," the older man sat down beside her and placed his hands on his knees, "You'd fix him."

"But what do I do since that someone _is_ Jeff Hardy?"

He sighed deeply and nodded slowly, "I don't even know where to start, Char."

* * *

As the door to the dressing room opened, the six foot and one inch tall, blue-eyed man rose to his feet at sight of his girlfriend.

Becky stopped dead in her tracks and eyed him suspiciously, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Thinking," he answered simply.

"About what?"

"Everything that's gone on…" he shrugged and shoved his hands in his jean pockets.

Her green eyes squinted slightly, "What are you talking about?"

Cody's face fell noticeably, "You don't know, do you?"

"Obviously not, Runnels. What's going on?"

"Hardy… he's suspended," Cody informed her with a depressed tone to his voice. "Again."

"How'd you know so fast?" his girlfriend inquired curiously.

He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, "We got tested together this morning."

A moment of epiphany suddenly arrived for Becky, "So that's where you were this morning."

"Yeah," Cody nodded as he took a seat on one of the chairs in the room. "I went to work out this morning and didn't want to wake you. When I came back, you were still asleep and I got the call to report down to the arena early, alone. So I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed for the arena. It takes about two hours to get the results back, so I just waited around in the trainer's room for a while."

"Oh," she rubbed a hand over her forehead in relief and smiled.

"Why?" he reached out for her and pulled the young woman onto his lap. "Where'd you think I went?"

"To tell you the truth, I didn't really know."

"I wouldn't just leave you high and dry… you do know that, right Becky?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I know."

* * *

After a loud exhale, a slender, perfectly manicured hand reached up and knocked on the steel door of Vince McMahon's temporary office.

What she was doing there, she didn't really know. Hell, she could barely take control over her own life at the moment and figure out exactly who the real Charlotte West was.

With an identity crisis that had taken twenty-something years to come to light, how the hell was she going to deal with someone currently as mentally-fucked up as Jeff Hardy was?

An audible groan came from the other side of the door, as did a shuffling of many objects, "Go away. I don't want to talk to anyone."

Charlie put on a brave smile, "Not even me?"

For a moment, all of the movement inside the room ceased.

The smashing of objects coming in contact with the concrete walls stopped.

The angered cries of frustration ended.

The only sound that could be heard was the unlocking of the black door before the blonde Diva.

After that, there was nothing but silence.

* * *

"So… do you have a singles match tonight?"

Cody breathed heavily out of his nostrils, causing Becky to inwardly chuckle at his strong resemblance to an angry bull, "A dark match."

She attempted to smile optimistically, "At least it's a match and a singles one."

"Becky, I appreciate your optimism," he smiled at her disappointedly, "But I understand that they don't think highly enough of me to even put me in a singles Heat match this week. I mean, you don't even see a single sign for me out there… um… EVER."

"Come on, Cody," she put a hand on his leg as she sat down next to him. "There was one the other week…"

"Nope," he shook his head at her vehemently. "That was a Cody plus Becky equals Cocky sign. With a heart around it. There has never been a single sign for me."

"I'm sure there will be one for you tonight. It's my hometown, for God's sake!"

A blue eye shot a startling glance in her direction.

More Cocky signs… more Becky signs. Less Cody signs.

Or rather, no Cody signs.

"Oh."

"Yeah," he sighed again and began to stare down at his hands.

"Listen, Cody…" she caught his gaze once more. "I'm not going out there with your for that dark match tonight."

His eyebrows furrowed into a deep v, "What are you talking about?"

Her hand instinctively moved towards his and she caught it lightly, "I want you to be able to go out there and know that every single decibel of the noise that those fans make out there is for you… and you alone."

"But, baby… this is your hometown!"

"It's okay," she nodded with an encouraging smile. "We'll be back here again. I don't need this, you do."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Becky agreed and stood up from the chair. "I'm sure. I'm going to go seek out Stephanie, she was looking for me before. I'll catch up with you after your match, alright?"

"Sure," he concurred, rising to his feet and running a hand through his spiky hair. "God, how did I get such good karma?"

After making her way to the door and pulling it open, she shrugged, "Beats me."

* * *

Pushing the door open, she gasped at how the room looked.

There were pens and pencils shattered and scattered across the room.

Papers looked as though they had been dropped out of the sky by a black hawk helicopter.

And there were quite a few skid marks on the wall.

If Charlie didn't know any better, she'd swear that a bomb had just gone off inside of the room.

"I see you've heard."

Her eyes lightly closed as the voice came from behind her. She knew exactly who it belonged to.

"I see you've heard as well," she replied softly as she turned around to face him.

He looked like absolutely shit. His hair was a mess, his face was contorted into an angry stare, and it looked as though he hadn't slept in days.

He grumbled, "News travels fast. Come to tell me how much of a hypocrite I am?"

The blonde winced at his accusation, but she soldiered on, "Not at all. I came to see how you were doing… and to make sure you weren't harming any innocent chairs."

"The chairs are fine," Jeff replied, traces of anger evaporating slowly from his hard face. "I can't say the same for the writing utensils though."

"It's alright," Charlie fanned a hand at him in jest, "I always thought that fountain pens had an attitude anyway. And really… those pencils with their pink erasers? Too fruity if you ask me."

For a moment, she swore she could see the slightest hint of a smile on his lips, "Maybe."

She bit down lightly on her lower lip, "How are you holding up?"

"Well, considering that I've been suspended for sixty days and Vince is pressuring me to go to rehab, I'm just fine and dandy," he retorted icily again.

"That sucks."

The Carolinian snorted, "You're telling me. Why'd you come here, Charlie?"

"I don't know…" she trailed off, finally looking back up at him. "Whenever I'm in trouble, you always seem to be there for me. I figured I'd do the same for you."

Jeff sighed loudly and righted a chair so that he could sit down, "You know, you're not like what everyone thinks you are."

"I've been working on it."

"I wish I could say the same for me."

In her tight jeans and green tee shirt, she sat down, with her legs crossed, on the floor in front of him, "You could… that is, if you wanted to."

"Wanted to what?" he looked down at her quizzically.

"Work on yourself," she replied simply. "I'd help you if you wanted."

He stared at her in complete marvel, "You'd do that for me?"

She shrugged, "There's nothing here for me these days except for you, Jeff. And if you're not here, I don't belong here anymore."

Internally, she smacked herself in the forehead for her candidness.

"That might be the nicest thing that anyone's ever said to me," Jeff admitted, resting his elbows on his thighs.

"And from me of all people…"

"You know you really have to stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Getting down on yourself."

"And you have to stop _that_," the Diva countered.

"Stop what?"

Charlie tucked a blonde curl behind her ear, "Giving out advice that you won't take yourself."

* * *

"Making his way to the ring… hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, he is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions," Lillian began to boom through the microphone. "CODY RHODES!"

Cody burst through the curtain and down the ramp towards the ring as the familiar chords of his guitar-laden entrance theme blared from the speakers around the arena.

He began to grin as the crowd cheered loudly for him, knowing that it was only him that they were cheering for.

He made his way into the ring, first posing for one side and then for the other.

As he went to move towards the center of the ring to wait for Carlito's theme, a large piece of poster board caught his eye.

He wheeled around in his blue trunks and equally blue boots, scanning the crowd for the sign once more.

Finally, his eyes locked on the sign.

_I (heart) Cody_

If it were possible, his grin widened at the sight of his very first sign.

His neck strained to look at the girl holding the sign.

It was difficult, as she was about four or five rows behind J.R. and Jerry Lawler, but he finally found her… black-haired and green-eyed.

If his smile could widen any more without rupturing his skin, it would have.

* * *

"Maybe I should."

"Should what?" her head cocked to the side as she stared up at the rainbow-haired enigma. "Stop giving out advice?"

"No," he shook his head, "Start taking it."

Charlie smiled and played with her bracelet, "That'd be a good start."

"That's beautiful," he stated randomly, rising from the chair and kneeling in front of her.

"What is?"

"Your bracelet," Jeff explained as he reached out and grazed his thumb over it, causing Charlie's heart to begin racing. "Where is it from?"

She shrugged, but never took her eyes off of his hand, "It was my mother's bracelet. My father gave it to her when they were first married."

"How'd you wind up with it?" he asked her curiously, happy to be off of the subject of his problem for once.

"She gave it to me after they got divorced," Charlie informed him, finally locking her sapphire eyes onto his jade ones. "Said she didn't want to be reminded of her past mistakes. Funny thing was, she had two children from her marriage to remind her of her ex-husband every single day."

"Are you still close with her?" Jeff inquired, his hand still on her wrist.

She shook her blonde curls, "Not since she got remarried. My stepdad doesn't really get along with me or Becky."

"At least you have some memories of being happy, you were old enough to remember everything before," he sighed, reminiscing about his own childhood. "What little I remember about my mom is in bits and pieces."

Charlie had remembered Jeff once telling her that his mom, Ruby, had died of brain cancer when he and Matt were just kids.

"I'm sorry, Jeff," the blonde Diva apologized sadly, avoiding his gaze.

"It's alright," he assured her. "I can still hear her voice and her laugh, see her face and her smile. As long as I never forget that, I'll be alright," he added, getting off of the floor and walking towards a cracked mirror in the corner of the room. "My mother was always so anti-drugs… God, she'd have been so disappointed in me over this one."

* * *

In all honesty, Cody Runnels didn't even want to move from that one spot in the ring.

It wasn't how he was used to things being. Usually, he had someone with him.

But this time, he was all alone.

It was funny, despite the fact that Becky wasn't beside him, he still felt like he was cheating. After all, the girl with the sign was just a fan.

And as the claps became steady and the girl in the Green Bay Packers hat and Brett Farve jersey appeared on the Titan Tron, he realized that out of every single person cheering for him in the arena, only one was a cut above the rest.

Only one meant more to him than every other set of hands.

Only one belonged to his number one fan… the girl with the raven hair and the emerald eyes. 

* * *

"Only because she cared about you," she informed him softly, turning around to watch him as he moved.

Jeff attempted to fix his messy ponytail and sighed as he finished, "How did I get like this, Charlie? So dependent on painkillers…"

The younger of the pair was at a loss for words, "I-I don't know, Jeff. But you need help. You need to find a better way to deal with the pain, to heal the wounds that time just can't help anymore."

"It took me three years to do that last time," he replied to her statement in his deep, southern drawl. "How the hell am I going to do that all over again? And without her?"

_Her?_

"Her?"

"Beth left me this afternoon. Well, after she found out about my suspension," Jeff explained with an overtone of sadness in his voice. "I can't blame her, I knew it would happen eventually. I just don't know…"

The North Carolina native's words were cut short by the ringing sound coming from his pocket.

Almost immediately, he retrieved the cell phone and answered the call.

From the moment she heard the loud, frantic voice on the other end and watched as Jeff's knees buckled underneath him, she knew that the younger Hardy was about to add to the list of events on the worst day of his life.

The phone slid from his grasp to the floor, "Everything's gone. Everything."

"Jeff," Charlie dropped to her knees in front of him, her voice laced with concern, "What happened? Jeff… talk to me. What happened?"

"The house… everything inside of it. Every memory, everything I owned. It's gone," he whispered slowly, staring out as though he was everywhere but in the room. "And Jack… oh, Jack."

"Your dog?" she asked him, still studying his face intently. "Jeff, what happened?"

"The house… everything in it… burnt to the ground," Jeff continued to stare off into nowhere. "They think it was an electrical fire. Beth was already gone… they think when she turned off the light to leave… it sparked somewhere under the house. It just… went up. Someone told Matt that it probably took somewhere around an hour to travel up through the house's foundations. But it's gone… it's all gone."

"Oh, Jeff," Charlie winced and took his hands in hers before him. "I'm so sorry."

His green eyes shut tightly and he threw himself into her arms, "Jack…"

The sympathetic girl took her cell phone from her pocket, pressing one of the speedidal buttons, and praying that the person on the other end picked up.

"I don't have time for this now, Charlie…" 

"I really don't care, Vince," she seethed into the phone. "I don't care what you do to me for missing the show, fine me, suspend me, fire me… do whatever you want. It's not like I have a match tonight anyway. I'm taking him home and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" he asked her forcefully.

"Jeff," Charlie answered simply, yet firmly. "He already dropped the title tonight, there's no more reason for him to stay. We'll see you in sixty days."

"Charlie…" he addressed her in a warning tone.

She rolled her eyes, continuing to hold on to the man in her arms, "Oh, save it, Vince. You can't honestly tell me you have anything planned for me in the next two months. He needs to go home… well, what's left of it."

"What's left of it?" Vince was taken aback. "What do you mean _what's left_ of it?"

"His house… it burnt down. Everything's gone. His furniture, his artwork, his studio… his dog. EVERYTHING, Vince," she informed him poignantly. "Now I'm having our bags taken from the hotel and put in a car, which will take us to the airport. We're taking the next flight out to North Carolina and there's nothing you can say to me that's going to make me do otherwise."

The chairman of the WWE sighed deeply on the other end of the phone, "I'll see you in sixty days."

* * *

After Cody lost to Carlito, he sauntered back up the ramp and waited around the gorilla for a little while.

The Puerto Rican passed by and clapped him on the shoulder, "Nice match, man."

"Thanks," Cody nodded his head in the older man's direction.

"You were out there alone tonight," Carlito tilted his head to the side. "Where was your girl?"

"Ehh…" he trailed off with a shrug and a smile. "She's around."

"Well, have fun trying to find her," he laughed at the Georgia-native. "See you around, kid."

For a little while longer, he lingered backstage, hoping that the avid Green Bay fan found her way into the back.

As he passed by one of the burly men after the match, he'd requested that the girl be brought to the back. When he'd asked which one, Cody had told him that she was the world's biggest Packers fan and that when he saw her, he'd know exactly which girl she was.

Sure enough, a half hour later, the girl wandered into the gorilla. 

Watching her, he almost forgot that she knew where she was going. After all, she'd wander around back here every now and then.

"I almost didn't recognize you."

* * *

"Where are we going, Charlie?" Jeff asked as he sat in the back of the Lincoln Towncar with her.

He must not have been listening…

"Here," she informed him as they pulled up to the airport and the driver immediately got out of the car to get their luggage. "The airport."

"Oh," he nodded, not really caring what that meant.

Charlie sighed.

He was in a daze, living in a completely surreal world. If she didn't know better, she'd assume that he was high.

The fact was, he was quite the opposite, incredibly low.

Even at the counter, he was completely disinterested. She was the one who had extracted his license from his wallet and put it back in his pocket.

She was the one who had lugged both of their carry-ons to the gate.

She was the one who checked in at their gate and escorted him onto the plane.

She was the one who fought off all of the stares of every single person on the plane who recognized her as they passed, fully knowing her reputation as Jeff rested in his first class window seat.

And she was the one who was going to try and save the man known as Jeff Hardy.

* * *

"That was almost the point," the young woman countered, adjusting her football cap.

"Almost?" he arched an eyebrow her way as she walked up towards him.

"Half of the thrill is not getting caught, you know," she smirked at him, stopping firmly in front of his toned body.

He shook his head at her, "You're something else you know that."

"I know."

He let out a hearty laugh, "Good God, woman. What are you doing to me?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he knew what was coming, "I think the better question is… what _will_ I do to you?"

Cody held a finger to his lips, "Be careful what you say. People might start to talk."

"So let them," she shrugged. "I don't care."

"Unlike you, people know what _I_ happen to look like," he countered with a light chuckle. "And while creative seems to have some sort of vendetta against me lately, I'd prefer not to fuel that fire."

"Well," her green eyes glinted in the dim lights. "It's a little late for my fire."

"You know something," Cody shook his head, wrapping an arm around her waist and roughly pulling her towards him, pressing his lips forcefully onto hers. He reached up and pulled off the hat, tossing it aside as her dark hair fell out of place and around her shoulders, "One of these days, you're going to kill me, Rebecca West."

One of her eyebrows arched and her smirk grew, "That's the plan."

* * *

About thirty minutes later, the airplane had taken off and was soaring tens of thousands of feet into the air.

At her request, the flight attendants were preventing any non-first class passengers from entering the area before the flight ended and once they had landed, they'd be allowed to exit the plane first.

For the last ten minutes, all that Jeff had been doing was stare out of the window.

Apparently though, he'd grown tired of doing that.

"Hey, Charlie?" his multi-colored head turned towards her.

She looked up from her Cosmopolitan Magazine, "Yes, Jeff?"

"Where are we going?"

"We're going home, Jeff," she sighed as she flipped through another page of the publication.

"I-I-I," he stammered, at an unusual loss for words. "I don't have a home, Charlie. Not anymore, anyway."

"Jeff," she shook her head. "I called Matt while we were in the car. You're going to be staying with him for a while."

"Oh, okay," he nodded, surprisingly receptive to the idea. Then again, he was probably too numb to really think it over. "How's he doing?"

She shrugged, "Okay, I guess. Worried about you. I had to peel him off of the phone before we took off."

He snorted loudly, "That sounds like Matt alright."

Charlie grinned slightly at the comment, but it wasn't that it was humorous as it was reminiscent of the fact that he was slowly sounding like himself again.

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Yeah… it's funny he's so worried, though. I mean, he has a home…"

The built blonde cut him off, "You do too, you know?"

"It's in ashes, Charlie."

"Jeff…" she trailed off, searching for any words that could make him understand. 

"On the road, I have no home. I don't get used to anything," he explained quietly in the dim light of the overhead spotlight. "But when I used to come back to North Carolina, I knew I had a home. Now… I don't have that security anymore."

Charlie reached out a slender arm and turned on the small light above her head, illuminating herself in the glow, "At night… when the show is through and most people are asleep, you and me, Jeff… well, we travel the highways. Usually, I sleep too, but some nights, I like to sit shotgun, rarely having the slightest idea where I am. You'd think that I'd know by now, but I guess I just prefer not knowing. It's like I'm constantly stealing away, leaving the past in some unknown city, leaning forward, hope stretching out on the dark horizon. Yes, you can get lost out here and sometimes… I do."

She paused and breathed in and out deeply, noticing that Jeff's emerald eyes were fixated on her slightly watery ones.

He couldn't believe that a girl everyone thought was so incredibly shallow could be this philosophical and profound.

Truly, there was more to the blonde than anyone ever thought.

The blonde before him shrugged wordlessly and continued to press on with her thoughts, "In all honesty, this life I've chosen has stranded me more times that I care to admit. But it's that push and pull; the moment where all is forgotten and that ring out there is pure music. That's why we do this, you and I. That's why our home is people, not places."

* * *

**A/N: I swear to God, this is the longest chapter of anything that I've ever written in my entire life. I wrote this whole thing in TWO days with a spazzing computer.**

**I think this marks a turning point for Charlie… and this chapter is probably one of the best things I've ever written. If you agree, please let me know.**

**I'm really aiming to get to 100 reviews this chapter. Please review, even if you haven't before.**

**For you, Becky, and those sweet moments between you and Cody that you live for, and for you, Charlie, and that killer monologue at the end that you wish you could tell him in real life sometime.**

**This chapter is truly dedicated to Jeffrey Nero Hardy, an amazing performer and human being who is going through a duly trying time in his life. My thoughts and prayers are with him at this time and I urge you to head over to Matt's myspace page, which has instructions as to where you can send some stuff for Jeff and Beth.**

**Lots of love and good thoughts,**

**Danielle**


	11. You Can't Always Get What You Want

Rebecca West was pissed.

Correction.

Rebecca West was beyond pissed.

For the last hour and a half, she'd been searching for the Chairman himself, Vince McMahon, but the man in question had managed to elude her throughout the course of her search.

A few weeks back, he'd promised to put Cody in a match.

A live one.

And as of that exact moment, he had yet to come through.

But Becky didn't care. If Vince wanted her to be his number one contender and to give her usual best, he'd put Cody in that match. Or he'd have to deal with the consequences.

Oh yeah, it was great to have Vince wrapped around her finger.

* * *

"I swear, sometimes you're as distant as he is."

Charlie looked up from her mug of black coffee and glanced at the man standing in the doorway of the kitchen, "What makes you say that?"

"You just have the same look," he replied with a shrug. "It's like you've got somewhere better to go, where you know you should be, but just can't find a way to get there."

A weak smile spread across her lips, "You caught me, Matt."

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Matt sighed, running a hand through his stringy black hair as he took a seat beside her at the kitchen table. "I just wanted to help you…"

"I know," she cut him off with a slight nod. "And I appreciate that."

"Right…" he trailed off, now bordering on uncomfortable himself. "Look, there's something I need to get off of my chest and I need to do it now."

She bit her lip and looked to her right, "Okay."

"I know that you've got a reputation, Charlie. I was a victim of it a while back myself. Hell, I don't think there are many men on this roster who haven't become one of your victims," Matt stated, causing Charlie to shift in her chair. "There are rumors, Charlie. There always are. Right now, they're saying that you're just after my brother to add him to the list."

"Matt, I…"

"Wait," he held a hand up to silence her and rose from the black chair. "But I want you to know that I don't believe those rumors. I know how you work, Charlie, and this isn't your strategy. Everything you've done is from the heart. I just wanted you to know that no matter what anyone says," he placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "I'm rooting for you, kid."

And with that, Matt turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving a very confused Charlotte West in the room behind him.

* * *

"Where is your father?"

"Excuse me?" the woman with the slightly-swollen stomach placed her hands on her hips.

Becky sighed deeply, "I've been looking for your father everywhere and he's no where to be found."

Stephanie shook her head, "I haven't the slightest idea. Quite honestly, he's been the invisible man all day."

"Figures," the Diva grumbled and shook her head.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"A couple of weeks ago, I asked Vince to put Cody into a match on RAW. Honestly, the poor guy's been so frustrated lately with his lack of air time and I felt terrible. So I took it up with your father and he promised me…"

"Let me guess? Dad pulled a vanishing act?" the brunette arched an eyebrow.

Becky laughed, "How'd you guess?"

"My father happens to be incredibly predictable," Stephanie shrugged with a laugh of her own.

"Care to help me predict what he's gonna do next?" she asked the older woman hopefully.

"Not really," she shook her head in response. "I try not to make getting into my father's head a habit of mine."

"Right…" the Diva trailed off before sighing loudly. "Alright, I'll see you around then."

"Any reason in particular that you're walking away?"

She turned around at Stephanie's comment, "Well, for starters… I need to find your father."

A wry grin crossed the heiress's face, instilling slight fear in the younger woman, "You do realize that I am Vice President of Creative, don't you?"

The contagious smirk soon graced Becky's face as well.

Stephanie was truly her father's daughter.

* * *

"Becky!" a voice exclaimed from outside the door as she sat inside her dressing room, reading a magazine.

A knowing smile crossed her lips as she waited for Cody, "Five… four… three… two… one…"

"Becky!" the door finally burst open. "Guess what?"

"What?" she played along innocently.

Cody grinned boyishly as he rushed into the room "I am in the main event!"

Her jaw dropped slightly, she hadn't been expecting that, "What?"

"Who are you, Stone Cold?" he laughed at her shock. "I said… I'm in the main event! Isn't that ridiculous!"

"I'll say…" she trailed off as the magazine dropped to the floor when she stood up from the couch.

"I know you said you were going to try and take care of this, but I didn't expect to main event!" he smiled brightly at her, his turquoise eyes sparkling as he wrapped his arms around her body and lifted her into the air. "You are the best."

"You know me," she replied in mock enthusiasm, biting her lip as she embraced him in turn.

With a wince, she reflected on what she knew was about to go down in the main event and wondered how the hell she was going to stop it.

More likely, she needed to find someone who could help… and fast.

* * *

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to find me."

Becky's emerald eyes rolled as she stood in the hallway, "Why didn't you find me then?"

"Randy Orton _always_ lets the girls come to him," the blue-eyed man countered cockily.

"Except when you go to bars in St. Louis, right?" she retorted with a smirk of her own.

"Oooh…" he shook his head and pressed the door against the wall with his hand. "Touché. Come on in."

Becky walked past the wrestler into the room, "Obviously you know why I'm here."

Randy waited for the door to swing shut, "Yeah, I do… it's how he gets eliminated, right?"

Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull, "Excuse me?"

"Or not," he sighed and took a seat on a metal chair. "We have to eliminate him, Becky. It's supposed to look…"

"Believable?" she offered with a sour expression on her face.

"You really don't expect us to let a guy like Cody get the best of us, do you?" he tried to stifle a chuckle.

"What do you mean 'a guy like Cody?'" Becky walked over to him.

Randy shot her a look, "You know, a rookie. He's just the Tag Team Champion, Rebecca."

_Rebecca._

She angrily shook her head at him, "I don't believe you. I knew I shouldn't have gone to you first."

Sporting a disgusted look on her face, she headed for the door.

Randy stood up and wrapped his hand around her wrist, "Becky…"

"No," her raven hair followed her as she shook her head. "You're a user, Randy. Just like my sister… and _you_ claim to be my friend."

"Becky, I _am_ your friend," he replied as she wrenched her arm from his grasp and backed up towards the door.

Her green eyes burned into his turquoise ones, "I came to you for help and you laughed in my face. No friend would do that Randy," she added and opened the door, but just before it closed behind her, she stopped it. "And you know how I said you were just like Charlie? Well, I take it back. Even she wouldn't have turned me away, not when I needed her. You're worse than she is, Orton. Much worse."

* * *

Becky had never counted John Cena amongst her best friends in life, nor her list of friends in general, but throughout his little fling with Charlie, he had been nice to her. In fact, he was the only one of her sister's conquests who even acknowledged her existence.

Maybe that was the exact reason she _disliked_ him so much… the fact that it had taken a hook up with her sister to notice her.

But she pushed her disdain temporarily aside for Cody's sake and knocked on his locker room door.

She could hear his voice drawing near and finally, the door opened, revealing the six foot, one inch tall, two hundred forty five pound John Cena, currently entertaining a phone conversation.

Upon seeing her on the other side of the door, John went silent for a moment, "Dan, I'm gonna have to call you back."

* * *

Her week was now officially up.

Neither Matt or Jeff had said anything, but Charlie knew that it was time for her to go. After all, Jeff was doing much better in his hometown under the careful observation of both his father and brother.

All of his painkillers had been flushed away and the subsequent withdrawal had long since subsided. He was now getting the care he needed.

As she packed the last of her shirts into her Louis Vuitton suitcase, she sighed. The last few days had been reminiscent of a childhood that seemed so far away.

"Are you leaving?"

Her blonde hair whipped around as she faced the owner of the familiar voice, "Jeff."

* * *

"Becky, what are you doing here?" John asked, clicking the end button on his LG VX9800 cell phone and sliding it into his pocket.

"You didn't hear?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, I didn't," he shook his head and then held the door open. "Come in, come in."

"Thanks," she mumbled and passed right by him.

John closed the door and turned to face her as she sat down on a chair, "I know that look. What's wrong?"

"So, I've been petitioning Vince to give Cody some more air time," she began to explain. "And he promised me he'd do something about it, but he hasn't. So when I bumped into Stephanie earlier today, I told her the story… and she told me she'd take care of it."

The wrestler pulled a compacted chair away from the wall and unfolded it in front of her own, "Did she?"

The raven-haired Diva nodded, "She put Cody in the main event."

"Ah," John nodded as he sat down. "And I'm guessing you spoke to Randy about this and that's the reason you look like hell on ice right now."

"Pretty much," she snorted.

"Listen, Becky," he looked down for a moment, "I can't tell you that I'm not going to lay a hand on your boyfriend…"

Immediately, anger flushed her cheek and she stood up, "You're just like…"

"Whoa, whoa," he halted her, placing a hand lightly on her arm. "Hold on a second. Let me finish," he instructed her as she slowly returned to her chair. "I can't promise you that I won't face him, Becky… but I can promise you that I won't hurt him."

"No FU's or STFU's…" she informed him sternly.

"No FU's or STFU's, I swear."

The diva sighed in relief as they both stood, "Thank you."

"No problem. I'll see you later, West."

"Yeah… see you."

* * *

"Are you leaving?" he repeated from the doorway.

The blonde nodded, "Yeah, I am."

His green eyes continued to stare at her, "Why?"

She sighed, "You don't need me here anymore, Jeff. You've got your dad, your brother… everyone back here in Cameron to look after you. My job is done."

He nodded somberly, "Where are you going to go?"

"Well, I told Vince I'd be back in sixty days, so maybe I'll take a vacation," she shrugged, turning back to her suitcase and zipping it up. "I probably could use one. I haven't taken one in quite a few years."

"What then?" he continued to press her.

"I don't know, Jeff. Maybe I'll fly by the seat of my jeans and see what happens," Charlie replied and righted her luggage. "In the meantime, I should probably get going. The airport is a little ways from here and I've got a flight to catch."

Jeff played with the bottom of his tee-shirt for a moment, "I don't want you to go."

"You don't need me here anymore, Jeff."

"How would you know?" he retorted, catching her off guard. "I'm sorry… it's just that, what you said… that day on the plane, well. It made so much sense to me, Charlie. It's the only thing that makes sense to me right now. You're the only thing that makes sense to me right now."

* * *

Becky looked on as John eliminated Santino Marella and smiled.

While she wasn't a huge fan of Maria, no woman deserved to be treated like Maria had.

But before she knew it, Murdoch was already tapping to the FU and Cade ran into the ring, only to find himself RKO'ed by Randy, then pinned by John.

Soon after, Umaga charged in, taking both men out.

Super Crazy was soon RKO'ed after a recovery, and then pinned, but Randy was booted to the face by JBL immediately thereafter. After some abuse by Randy, Hacksaw Jim Duggan came in and began to unleash some fury, only to tag in the young Cody Rhodes.

Becky clenched her jaw tightly as her boyfriend entered the ring, but a slow grin spread across her face as he began to beat on Randy.

She chuckled as Cody knocked the older wrestler to the ground, "So much for taking care of him, huh, Randy?"

Soon though, he tagged Burchill in and she could rest easy once more.

The came Snitksy with a thunderous clothesline and Carlito with a boot to the midsection.

And then Holly with a bunch of right hands.

Then, Bob tagged in one of the Highlanders, but she wasn't really sure which one. After a counter by Randy and then a top rope leg drop by John, the brother found himself eliminated.

DH Smith was next after a sidewalk slam, Five Knuckle Shuffle, and an FU.

Orton eliminated Burchill immediately with an RKO, then did the same to Val Venis.

That's when she saw the flash of royal blue once more and her heart starting beating a thousands miles a minute in her chest.

Hell, she was surprised it hadn't burst out of her body yet.

After Cody bounded off the ropes, John stepped immediately in front of Randy.

For a moment, she sighed in relief, knowing that he was attempting to stop an RKO. In fact, the look in his eye was unmistakable. He wanted Cody's head on a silver platter.

She watched as John turned around and threw him up in the air to let him fall to the mat, knocking the wind out of him long enough to safely get a pin and prevent injury to Cody.

And that's when it happened.

As Cody began to fall, Randy Orton, the snake that he was, slid right in for the mid-air RKO.

As her boyfriend landed on the mat with a dull thud, and Randy went in for the pin, the raven-haired Diva only saw red.

It couldn't have been as effective mid-air, with such little distance to the mat, but it couldn't have been painless.

1-2-3.

"Fuck."

* * *

"I'm not what you need, Jeff."

In her head, Charlie was silently kicking herself.

She had just told the one man she hadn't thrown herself at, sleezed herself up for, whom she actually wanted to be with that he didn't need her.

What the hell was she thinking?

"Everyone seems to think that they know what's best for me," Jeff exclaimed loudly in exasperation. "Since you seem to know too, tell me, Charlie… what do I need?"

The blonde bit down on her lip lightly, "I don't really know, Jeff. But I do know that you don't need some no-good, promiscuous, blonde Barbie doll around."

"Charlie, I'm talking about you… not Kelly Kelly," he countered with a smile.

God, he wasn't making this easy.

Charlie was beginning to lose her patience, "Why the hell do you want me to stay, anyway? What is it that I can _possibly_ offer you?"

"Look, I love my father and I love my brother, but they don't know the way I work these days, not as much as they think they do," he ran a hand through his multicolored hair. "You… you have a soul that mirrors mine and honestly, people don't give you enough credit for that. I'm not going to lie, Charlie, I once was one of them. But…" he trailed off, searching for the right words. "Don't laugh at me. I think that it's entirely possible for a person's soul to be drawn to its mirror… and I think that soul is yours."

With a deep breath, the statuesque Diva dropped her suitcase back to the floor and pushed it over, "I know exactly what you're talking about."

* * *

"I'm going to fucking kill Randy Orton!" the raven-haired beauty gritted her teeth as she pressed a plastic bag filled with ice to her boyfriend's head.

"Becks…" he trailed off, but winced as she pressed a little too hard. "Take it easy."

Her head shot up, "What? Oh, sorry, baby."

He let out a labored chuckle as he shifted on the hotel bed, "It's okay. Becky, it's just an occupational hazard, sweetheart. You can't get pissed at a guy for trying to beat me."

"But I can get pissed at Orton because… oh, nevermind. I'm just worried about you, that's all."

He took her hand off of his skull and kissed it, "I'm fine. I swear. There's just going to be a nasty little bump and it'll be gone in a few days."

Becky ran a slender hand through his spiky black hair, "I know that. Randy's just an asshole, that's all. You don't even _want_ to know what I'm going to do to him the next time I see him…"

The second-generation superstar shook his head and pulled her onto his lap, placing a light kiss to his lips, "That's only because I'd rather hear what _you_ are going to do to _me_."

With a boyish grin, he leaned in and pressed another kiss to his girlfriend's lips, deepening the kiss as he pushed her back onto the bed.

Breaking the lip lock, the Diva pushed him a few inches above her, "Aren't you supposed to have a concussion?"

Cody smirked at her mischievously, "I think the operative phrase is 'supposed to.'"

"Cody Garrett Runnels," she marveled at his deviance. "How did you…?"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who knows how to put on a performance for the powers that be," he added smugly and crashed his lips down onto hers.

Carefully, he slid an arm out from around her and reached up to his left, clicking off the lamp and sending them into darkness for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N: I think I did quite well with the pen that was in my hands, don't you?**

**Review!**

**And Becky… your turn!**

**Yours too, CHARLOTTE!**


	12. Let's Get it Started

"Miss West," Vince greeted her as she walked into his office. "Please, take a seat."

The raven-haired Diva nodded and sat down in the chair before him.

Tonight was Wrestlemania, the greatest spectacle in all of Sports Entertainment. The preparations in Orlando had been going on for months, with a makeshift roof being built over a section of the Citrus Bowl in the case of rain.

Unfortunately, Becky wasn't in a single match tonight.

But she was okay with being a lumberjill for the Bunnymania match. Honestly, she didn't want to participate in such a crappy match anyway.

Then again, any match was better than nothing.

Just ask Cody Runnels.

"I am well-aware that you are not pleased with the outcome of last week's match," he explained. "So tonight, tell Cody he has a spot in the battle royale.

A smile crossed her face, "Thank you, Vince."

He waved her off, "It's no problem at all… and oh, one more thing?"

"Sure."

"Tell the kid that he and Bob should be prepared to start defending those titles more often," he smirked, entering full-on evil genius mode. "I smell a feud coming on."

* * *

The smell of something cooking in the kitchen was enough to wake Jeff from his deep slumber in the middle of the afternoon.

Slowly, still in the same pair of jeans he'd worn the night before, he trudged down the hallway and down the stairs. His nose led him straight to the room in question, but the chef was a slight surprise.

The creator of the fantastic aroma turned to him, her blonde hair moving with her as she smiled, "Hey, Sunshine. Long night, huh?"

"Tell me I'm the best girlfriend on the planet."

Cody looked up from his food in catering, where he and Bob were currently eating, as she entered the room, "You're the best girlfriend on the planet?"

"Now do it without food in your mouth," she smirked at him as he took a sip from his water bottle.

He set his jaw, "Don't toy with me, woman."

"Fine," Becky held up her hands and began to back up. "If you don't want to be in the Battle Royale tonight, that's cool. And the feud for the next two months? That can be forgotten too."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the twenty-two year old hopped to his feet and chased after his girlfriend. "What did you say?"

She grinned like a Cheshire Cat, "You heard me."

"Are you _serious_?" his eyes widened at the thought.

"One hundred percent," she replied with great satisfaction.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed loudly, lifting her into the air. "You are the best girlfriend on the planet!"

"Told you."

* * *

Jeff shrugged, "It's going to be longer tonight."

"We don't have to watch, you know," she informed him, twirling a spoon around in her hand.

"I promised Matt I would," he stared down at his shoes. "Shannon's coming, Shane's going to come over too."

"And let me guess," Charlie dropped the utensil onto the counter with a loud clank, "He's bringing the bottles."

"Charlie," he put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

"Look," she put her hands on the edge of the counter and sighed, before turning to face him again, "If you want to drink, I'm not going to stop you, any of you. But," she advanced forward until she was nearly at eye level with him and poked a finger into his chest. "If you don't think I realize this is nothing more than a pity party, you have actually managed to live up to the reputation of stupidity you've established for yourself in the last three months."

"Charlie," Jeff repeated again, attempting to explain.

But Charlotte West wasn't having it and put a well-manicured hand up to silence him, "Just save it."

With a hardened glance, the blonde turned on her stilettos and headed for the guest room, the clicking of her heels still echoing in Jeff's mind long after she'd shut the door.

* * *

While Cody was waiting for his match in the gorilla, along with 27 other superstars, Becky was on her way to the monitors in back with the McMahons.

Tonight was supposed to be a relaxing evening for the younger West sister. Cody would be a part of Wrestlemania, Becky would be able to get a good shot or two in on Beth Phoenix without the risk of being killed, and she'd certainly be rewarded tonight for her conniving.

But with one simple sentence, her blood pressure shot through the ceiling, "Becky, I need to talk to you."

Her footsteps ceased immediately and her eyes shut lightly.

Opening them, she turned around, "You've got balls, Orton."

"Thanks," he smirked. "I like to use them as often as I can."

Her thin lips twisted into a scowl, "I don't have time for your cocky bullshit anymore, Orton."

"You can call me Randy, you know," he informed the Diva, never once taking his eyes off of her.

"I only use first names for my friends."

"Come on, Rebecca…" Randy's tattooed arm reached for her, but she slapped him away.

"Don't you DARE touch me," Becky spat at him.

"I came to you first, Randy…" she trailed off as she backed up in the same direction she was walking in the first place. "I came to you first."

* * *

"There he is, man!" Shane exclaimed and pointed at the television set, where Matt Hardy was running to the ring.

"Dude!" Shannon laughed. "What the hell is up with his pants tonight? They look like puke."

Jeff rolled his eyes, "Have you seen your ring gear lately?"

"You're one to talk, Hardy," his tattooed friend spat back at him, taking a swig of beer from his can. "With your body paint and shit."

"I wear it well. Can't say the same for you…"

"Gentlemen," Shane interrupted, putting down his own can and reaching for the bottle of tequila at the end of the coffee table, as well as the three shot glasses beside it. "You know what would fix everything? Tequila."

Shannon nodded with a bright grin, taking a shot glass for himself, "That's what I'm talking about. Every time Batista botches a move, we drink. You in, Jeff?" he asked, holding out a glass for his friend.

His green eyes rested on the lone beer can that he had just finished, now resting at the far end of the table, "Nah, man. I'm good…" They climbed the wall and stopped at the shadow being cast outside the room, "I'm good."

* * *

Even though Cody had lost the battle royale at Wrestlemania, he had left the Citrus Bowl with his head held high, a sense of pride from participating in the spectacle still swelling in his chest.

His girlfriend, Becky, had a much more passive role in Wrestlemania XXIV. As a lumberjill, her main task was to look good and send a message to Beth Phoenix. In a pair of acid washed jeans and a faded orange tee with black slashes, she fulfilled the first requirement. And when Ashley knocked Beth through the ropes, Becky managed to land quite a few powerful elbows to her lower back, a center of her power.

A little less than a month had passed since Wrestlemania, as had Backlash, and Cody was receiving a substantial push on television. In fact, just a week earlier, Cody had cut his first in-ring promo with Santino Marella that had gone over exceptionally well.

Tonight, Cody would be going face to face with Santino in a match that was somewhat anticipated.

At the moment, with an hour to go before his impending match, he stood before the full-length mirror in his blue wrestling trunks and matching boots.

"You can do this, Runnels," he assured himself firmly with a hard stare. "You've got this."

* * *

Silently, the raven-haired young woman slipped into the locker room, careful not to break his concentration.

Tonight was an important night for him, she knew that. Since the feud with Randy, Cody's role had been drastically slashed. Winning the titles in December was pretty much his last glory moment since.

"Tonight is your night," Cody placed a hand on the concrete wall outside of the mirror's frame.

With a soft smile, the Diva approached him from behind, sliding her hands over his rigid abs, "It is, you know."

Cody's sapphire eyes fixated on her body in the mirror, "Where'd you come from?"

"Doesn't matter," she shook him off, pressing her cheek to his back as she wrapped her arms around his midsection. "You're going to be great, Cody."

He nodded, "Tonight is going to jumpstart me, Becks… I can feel it."

"That's not what I meant," she corrected him, closing her eyes as she inhaled the scent of his body wash. "I know you're going to be great tonight, Codes. Win or lose, to me, you're always amazing… but I meant down the road. Tonight is the night that everyone's going to look back on and say 'That was the moment the world knew that Cody Runnels was destined for greatness.'"

"My God," he allowed his tough demeanor to crack a slight smile. "What did I do to deserve you?"

Becky laughed, "Beats me."

"Hey, Becky?" the Marrietta-native turned around and faced her.

"Yeah?"

Cody leaned forward and captured her lips with his, her arms sliding up and around his neck in response, "I love you."

The young woman smiled up lovingly at him, "I love you too."

Cody grinned boyishly back at her before running his hands up and down her back, covered by her black long-sleeved shirt, as he bent back down to kiss her.

With a light smack, she pulled away, "How much time do we have?"

"Hmm?"

"When does your match start?" she clarified.

His hands slid back down her arms, where they rested on her forearms, "Not for another hour. I still have to warm up, though…"

Becky smirked deviously at him, "What do you say I warm you up?"

His deep blue eyes glinted, "Rebecca West…"

"Cody!" she smacked him playfully. "Do you just call me that to anger me? You know I –"

"Shh," he placed a finger over her lips and walked to the door, locking it. "No talking."

Cody walked back to his girlfriend, who jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Think we can do this in an hour?"

Cody grinned back at her like a Cheshire cat, "Baby, we can do this _at least_ twice in an hour."

* * *

**A/N: I know this one's kind of short, but I wanted to bring it relatively close to the present, give Becky some fluffy goodness, make Charlie VERY happy, and establish some minor facts.**

**I hope you guys like this one! Review!**

**Danielle**


	13. Headstrong

"Are you mad at me?"

In the passenger's seat of the rental car, Becky was steaming.

And the fact that Ted DiBiase, Jr. was sitting in the backseat wasn't exactly helping.

Cody glanced over at her from the driver's seat, "Becky?"

"I'm trying not to bite your head off, Cody," she replied monotonously from her side of the car. "And I must admit, it's rather difficult."

"Despite the fact that I'm a wrestler," Ted decided to chime in, leaning forward so that his head was wedged between the arms of the couple in the front seat, "I don't really enjoy the site of blood, so if you could refrain from that, I'd appreciate it."

Becky cracked her neck, "I don't believe I asked for the peanut gallery's opinion, DiBiase."

He held his hands up and leaned back into the rear of the vehicle, "Sorry."

"Rebecca…" Cody trailed off, shaking his head at her.

"For a man who has severely pissed me off tonight, Mr. Runnels," she continued to crack other parts of her body, now working on her knuckles, "You certainly like to throw around the 'R' word a lot."

"What?" DiBiase asked curiously. "Rebecca?"

"Shut up, Ted," her boyfriend snapped at him, glancing in his rearview mirror. "You really aren't helping right now."

"Sorry."

"So I guess the answer to my question was a yes?"

Becky moved from her right hand to her left.

"I'll take that as a yes, too…" he sucked in his breath as they pulled into a rest stop along the highway. "Ted, now is your last chance to use the bathroom for a while and I strongly suggest you take it."

The Mississippi native cocked his head to the side, "Why?"

Cody ran his hands over his face, "Just get out of the car, Ted!"

"Okay, okay…" he fumbled for the handle of the door and then stepped out of the car. "Jeez."

Becky's green eyes followed Ted's retreating form and once she knew he was out of earshot, she turned to her boyfriend.

"How could you not tell me?!"

"I was his mystery partner!" he retorted defensively. "Emphasis on the word… MYSTERY!"

"And I'm your valet and girlfriend!" she answered him back loudly. "Emphasis on the word… GIRLFRIEND!"

"Vince said that is should be a total surprise…" he tried to explain. "It's like when Cena returned and no one knew!"

"Let me tell you something, Mr. Runnels," Becky's emerald eyes darkened. "I do not give two shits about John Cena. I am not his girlfriend. I am not his valet. But I'm sure, if John Cena had a valet-slash-girlfriend, he would have told her that he was going to fucking turn on his partner and turn fucking heel!"

Cody rolled his eyes, "Like Vince would ever let Cena turn heel!"

Becky took two deep breaths, then a final huff, and let out a shrill scream that made Cody cover his ears in pain.

A moment later, there was a sharp knocking on his window.

His blue eyes turned to his left… and found a cop leaning towards him.

Cody rolled down his window, "Can I help you, officer?"

"I heard a loud scream coming from this car, young man. I just wanted to check and see if the lady's okay," he explained, his flashlight roaming over Becky. "Are you okay, honey?"

"I'm fine, officer," she nodded. "Just a liiitttle pissed off at my boyfriend here, but I'm okay."

Cody sighed internally. At least she still considered him her boyfriend. That was a very good sign in his book.

"Alright, you two…" he nodded and seemed to buy her story with satisfaction. "Have a good night."

The raven-haired Diva smiled at him, "We will, officer. Good night."

Cody rolled up the window and just when he was about to speak, the backdoor opened and Ted slid back into the car, "Why was that cop over here?"

Becky's lips curled into a smirk, "He'd heard about your DUI and wanted to make sure you weren't driving."

"Cody," Ted turned to his new tag team partner. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have a bitch for a girlfriend?"

"Shit…" he mumbled with a wince as he watched his girlfriend lunge for Ted. "Becky," he grabbed her and pulled her back into the front seat. "No."

"I swear to God, Ted… I will fucking kill you," she screamed at him angrily. "I didn't like Bob Holly, not one bit, but I tolerated him for Cody's sake. And let me tell you, I will NOT make that same mistake again, DiBiase. Especially not for you."

"Becky, please…" Cody plead with her as she settled into her seat. "Can we talk about this once we get to the hotel? I promise, Ted has his own room."

His girlfriend muttered something that resembled the word 'fine' and that was good enough for the Marietta-native as he began his drive back into the June night.

* * *

"So I guess this is goodbye, huh?" Jeff Hardy's southern drawl cut through Charlie to her core as they stood outside in the empty arena parking lot.

"I guess so," she nodded sadly, her eyes drifting to her platform sandals. "I don't want it to be, though."

Jeff smiled at her weakly, "Me either. But I'm a big believer in fate, you know that."

"Can you explain to me why everything with us seems to involve a parking lot then?" she mused, her blue eyes glinting in the moonlight.

"I'm a believer, not a thinker," he laughed.

"You leave the thinking to Matt?"

"Hell no!" he scoffed at the notion. "That'd be stupid. I leave the thinking to you."

"That's a hell of a task to give to a blonde," Charlie laughed with a shake of a head.

He eyed her for a moment, "Yep. Exactly what I thought."

"What is?"

"You might be a blonde on the outside… but you've got the fire of a redhead and the soul of a brunette," he explained to her with a smile. "Exactly what I thought."

"You're such an idiot," her sapphire eyes rolled and she slapped him playfully, but managed to trip and fall, right into his chest.

Instinctively, Jeff wrapped his arms around her to steady her and keep her from falling, "And you're such a klutz."

And then a funny thing happened… neither one of them moved.

* * *

By the time Cody stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and water beading off of his tanned, muscular body, Becky was lodged under the blankets.

"I know you're awake, Rebecca."

"I don't care what you know, Cody," she replied nonchalantly. "In fact, I don't care about anything pertaining to you anymore. I refuse to care about someone who doesn't care about my feelings."

"Come on, Becky…" he cooed, sitting on her side of the bed, barely in front of her legs. "You know I care about your feelings."

Still, she turned over and refused to look at him, "Do I?"

He smirked slightly and reached for her left hand, "If you didn't, you wouldn't still be wearing this."

Becky set her jaw firmly, she hated it when he was right.

"Maybe."

"You know I'm right too."

"Maybe."

The Georgian boy's smirk grew and her turned her over to face him, "You know that you love me, Rebecca West… even though you're pissed at me, you know you love me."

Becky bit down on her lower lip, "Perhaps."

"Well, now, if that's the case…" he trailed off, letting a hand settle in her hair. "I guess I'll just have to show you how right I am."

"What are we doing?" Charlie asked, nearly breathless at this point.

"I'm not really sure," Jeff admitted, but didn't move a muscle. "Do you want to stop whatever it is that we are doing?"

She shook her head lightly, her blonde tresses moving with her, "Not really. Do you?"

He, too, shook his head negatively and licked his lips, "No."

Charlie immediately noticed this and her gaze shifted from his mouth back up to his eyes, "Now what are you doing?"

Jeff leaned in, covering the distance between their faces, "Believing in fate."

A moment later, a bolt of electricity shot through the Diva's body as their lips connected for the first time.

* * *

**A/N: I know it's kind of short, but I promised Ms. Becky that I'd get her an update today. So now I am… and it's today.**

**Because Corey Hart got into the MLB All-Star Game over my boy, David Wright… and we had made a bet for an update on it. And David got in because of an injury. **

**Despite my 1406 text messages, he managed to lose to Corey. Go figure. There went one hundred dollars down the drain.**

**Ms. Charlie, I hope that you like this update, as well. You totally owe me for this and Hollywood's Not America now!**

**For everyone else, I hope that you enjoy! It's 3:30 am my time now and I need sleep. Especially after this Triple Update!**

**Read and review all!**


	14. Back at Your Door

It had been nearly a month and a half since Cody and Ted had first won the titles and while Becky was overjoyed for her boyfriend and his tag partner, she couldn't help but wonder where her push had gone.

A few weeks ago, she was the golden girl of World Wrestling Entertainment, ready for her shot as number one contender.

And now...?

She was Cody's girlfriend and his and Ted's valet.

Who the hell did Vince McMahon think she was? Kelly Kelly?

With a fury, Becky threw open the door to the dressing room she shared with Cody Runnels and Ted DiBiase, Jr., causing the men to jump as the metal connected with the concrete walls.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Ted grumbled as he finished unpacking his bag of wrestling attire.

Despite a rocky start in the beginning of the Rhodes-DiBiase, "Simply Priceless" Era, the Diva and the second-generation superstar had become pretty good friends. Ted understood that she was an incredibly important part of his tag team partner's life and conversely, he should learn from the mistakes that Bob Holly had made and stay on Rebecca West's good side at all times... and at all costs.

"Not now, _Ted_," she hissed at him, throwing her duffle bag on the floor.

Cody shook his head lightly and placed his bag down beside his girlfriend's, walking towards her slowly, "What happened, Becky?"

His girlfriend took a deep breath as he approached her in a pair of medium wash blue jeans and a dark grey Affliction tee-shirt, "I'm the next fucking Kelly Kelly, that's the matter."

"Rebecca," the Marietta-native chuckled lightly. "You are beautiful... and talented... and smart..." he smiled at her, brushing back a strand of her hair off of her face in an attempt to make her feel better. "And most importantly, you are NOT the next Kelly Kelly."

Becky did feel a tiny bit better, but mainly because he was trying, not necessarily succeeding.

It was more of the thought that counted.

"The next _fucking_ Kelly Kelly," she corrected him, still pouting.

"Okay," he laughed again and placed a kiss on the top of her head as he pulled her into a strong embrace. "You are not the next _fucking_ Kelly Kelly. Is that better?"

The raven-haired young woman nodded into his chest, "A little."

"Good," he replied, pushing her back a few inches. "Now listen, Ted and I have our match up next, so we have to change, but it's a non-title match against Cryme Time... so you don't have to go."

She was a little taken aback, "You don't want me there?"

"I didn't say that," Cody answered quickly.

"I think what the man is trying to say..." Ted interjected to save his friend some embarrassment, "Is that while we're kicking Cryme Time's ass, you should go work with Vince McMahon's ass..."

"And while you're screwing up what I was supposedly trying to say," Cody rolled his eyes at Ted and then turned back to Becky, "I'm going to tell my girlfriend that she should confront Vince McMahon about the direction of your career and how it has recently derailed."

Becky let out a momentary laugh, "You just did. It's a good thought... and that's just what I'm about to do."

* * *

This was it.

She was always assertive, always spoke her mind.

But this was her boss. This was Vincent Kennedy McMahon, CFO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

And she couldn't just walk up to his door, pound on it, and expect him to let her in.

No... she'd have to walk in.

Standing before her was the door in question.

All she had to do now was open it and walk on in.

_Yeah... all I have to do._

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, here are your winners and STILL World Tag Team Champions..." Lillian's voice boomed through the arena. "Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, Jr.!"

With a smug grin on his face, Ted reached for his friend's wrist and raised their arms in the air. After a short, yet very masculine embrace of appreciation, the duo turned around to the referee, expecting their tag team titles to be waiting for them.

But they weren't.

Instead, they were met with a very confused referee, a cheering crowd, and a chant that couldn't be made out all that well.

Looking around for their gold, however, they could make out the bodies of Shad Gaspard and JTG at the top of the ramp, holding the Tag Team Belts, THEIR belts, over their heads in triumph.

"Did I miss something?" Cody asked Ted beside him.

"Yeah..." Ted seethed. "They stole our fucking title belts."

His eyes bulged, "Motherfuckers."

DiBiase shook his head and scowled at their desperation, "Wouldn't be surprised."

* * *

The Wisconsin native soon realized that she'd been standing at the door for the last five minutes, oblivious to the fact that people were now passing and staring at her.

With a final deep breath, and a boost of confidence, she reached for the silver doorknob, turned it, and pushed open the steel.

"Vince, we need to talk. I'm sick of being told what I'm gonna be. I just want to know when the hell am I getting..." she trailed off, stopping as she caught site of another person in the room, whom Vince had been talking to before. "My title shot."

The young woman had bright blonde hair, styled into long waves, but she was currently facing Vince, so few other details were available.

Subsequently, she felt it was safe to assume it was none other than Kelly Kelly herself.

_Ugh. Barbie doll. Speak of the fucking devil..._

"Ah, Ms. West," Vince smiled as he clasped his hands together over his desk. "Normally, interruptions infuriate me. But I am glad you're here. You see, we were just discussing your future."

Becky scoffed, "Why were you and Barbie Doll talking about my future for?"

"You know," the woman turned around to face Becky, "One of these days, Barbie's going to figure out your little nickname isn't a term of endearment."

Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "Charlie?!"

The sapphire-eyed Diva smirked, "In the flesh, little sister."

"I thought you were still... on leave."

"Well, Jeff's on Smackdown and since the Diva title sucks, I chose to stay here. Besides," she toyed with her talon-like french manicure as she spoke, "I like being the golden girl on the number one program. Don't you agree, Mr. McMahon?"

"But Vince," Becky scootched further into the room. "We had all of these plans! I had a title shot!"

"You should know better than anyone that things change, _Rebecca_," Charlie replied icily. "And people change..." she added, giving her sister the once over, "Sometimes, not for the better."

Her emerald eyes hardened. "At least I don't get mistaken for Kelly Kelly."

Charlie laughed haughtily, "At least_ I _don't get mistaken for Ashlee Simpson and her fried-ass haircut."

"Whore."

"Bitch."

"Slut."

"Poseur."

"Homewrecker."

"ENOUGH!" Vince boomed as he stood up in a hurry. "What the hell am I going to do with you two?"

"I don't care what you do about her," Charlie waved off her sister, "But I know you're going to give me my title shot."

"YOUR title shot? You left. You vanished. You packed it in... and the fans have never cheered louder," Becky countered.

Vince was on the brink of popping a blood vessel. "Both of you, stop it. We'll settle this in a match... winner gets the #1 contendership against Beth."

"Fine," Becky replied.

"Fine," Charlie agreed. "Unforgiven it is."

A sinister smile crept upon Vince's face, "Oh no, ladies. Not just at Unforgiven. Best two out of three matches. First one at Unforgiven, second at No Mercy, and a third, if necessary, at Survivor Series."

Both women were absolutely stunned into silence.

"That's all ladies," the Chairman settled back into his desk and waved them away. "See you at Unforgiven."

And with that, both Divas left Vince McMahon's office... a thousand times quieter than when they had entered.

* * *

"Becky, where have you been?" Cody asked her accusatorily as she walked back into their dressing room, still stunned from the events that had just occurred.

"In Vince's office," she responded, failing to make any sort of eye contact with her boyfriend.

Cody grunted, "I've been waiting for you for an hour."

"I was tied up," Becky replied miserably. "You'll never guess what just happened."

"Cryme Time stole our Tag Titles!"

"No," Becky shook her head and laughed. "But that's an interesting, albeit very specific guess."

"No!" the Georgian shot back angrily. "They really stole our fucking titles. This is not a joke, _Rebecca_."

In the past year, there had been many times in which Cody Runnels had used her first name and she hadn't really cared.

Out of his lips, and his alone, the name she hated was slightly charming and incredibly endearing.

However, this was not one of those times.

And it pissed her the fuck off.

"You know what, Cody?" she began to yell. "Not everything is about you and your precious fucking titles okay? You've been a champion what... three times? I haven't held a single FUCKING one. And guess what? You've got three on this show to shoot for. And I have how many? Oh, that's right. ONE. In a division that no one cares about. But you know something?" Becky shouted louder at him, catching Ted's attention, as well. "_I_ care about it. And after all this time of parading around with your belt, you should at least _want_ me to parade around with you, no matter how fucking inferior the majority of the competition is. I followed you and Holly around, despite my hatred for him, and now I follow you and Ted around."

"I didn't ask you to..." Cody tried to interject, but was soon cut off.

"Yes, you did, Cody. But it doesn't matter. After all of that, you should have at least wanted me to share in that joy with you... fight for a title shot for me like I fought for one and a new gimmick for you. But nooooooo," she added with sarcasm. "I come in here, pissed off beyond belief, and you don't even have the decency to ask me what's wrong. All you care about is the fact that Shad and JTG stole your tag team belts. That still makes you a champion, Runnels, gold or not."

The black-haired young woman bore her emerald eyes into him and headed for the door, but then stopped to turn around and sling her duffel bag over her shoulder.

"And without gold around my waist, or a title to my name, even if for a split second of time, all I am is another Kelly Kelly... another girl that's there as nothing more than eye candy. You once told me you loved me because of the passion I had for my job," Becky sighed, pulling open the door. "I know you love me, Cody... I just want you to support me, that's all."

For a moment, the six-foot, one inch young man of muscle stood before her, his hands now in his pockets, and simply shook his head.

Then he sighed, "Why do you always have to pick on Kelly Kelly?"

Becky ground her teeth together, "You are a fucking asshole... don't wait up for me. I'm not coming. Although, I doubt you'd even care enough to stay awake."

And with that, she slammed the door shut.

* * *

"Come on, Cody..." Ted whined and pushed him forward. "A carnival is the perfect thing to take your mind off of your problems."

"Ted," he rolled his eyes. "Don't you think that we're a little old for this."

"Ahh, young Runnels..." he said in an airy voice, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You have much to learn, Grasshopper."

Cody's face contorted, "You're three years older, Ted!"

"Three years wiser..." he noted with his index finger. "And right now, I'm wise enough to go call Kristen and check in on her. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"But I-" he began to object, but by then, his friend was off into the distance, already dialing her phone number. "Ugh. Fuck this."

"A little down on your luck, my dear?" a drawn out female voice called to him, causing him to turn around.

It was then he caught sight of the pale, older woman with overexaggerated makeup and a purple turban that matched her equally purple, celestial dress, "Huh?"

"Girl trouble..." she began, but then paused and held up a finger as she concentrated on nothing in particular. "Ahh..." her face morphed into a smile. "And work trouble. The girlfriend works with you too."

Quickly, the woman took notice of his confused face.

"I am Madame Sabrina," she regally announced to him. "I am a seer of all, the present, past, and future. And that is precisely why I know what is troubling you."

"No, it's because I'm on TV and my life is documented on Wikipedia," he countered skeptically.

"Even if your life is documented on this wiki-thing," Sabrina waved her hand around in dismissal of his comment, "I'd actually have to know who you are. And I don't. But I can... if you'd like me to, read your future."

The blue-eyed wrestler shook his head, "I don't believe in psychics."

But Sabrina wouldn't take no for an answer, "Well, I am not a psychic. Psychics guess. Madame Sabrina knows. Listen, my dear... if I can't convince you that I'm for real, the reading is free of charge."

After about fifteen seconds, Cody nodded. "Okay."

Sabrina nodded and led him into her small tent, the interior of which was decorated in deep purples, blues, and blacks.

In the center of the small covering was a table and two chairs.

"Please," she gestured to the chair on their right, "Sit."

Despite being skeptical, Cody did as he was told.

"Now," she began, sitting in the chair and extending her arm across the table. "Please give me your hand."

Once again, the second-generation wrestler complied and turned his hand upwards as he reached across to her.

Sabrina flipped it over and held onto it, "Not your palm, your hand."

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "Now what?"

"Now..." she trailed off. "I make a believer out of you."

* * *

On her king sized bed in her hotel suite, Charlie laid on her plush pillows, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

"You should have seen the look on her face when I turned around, Jeff," she cackled wickedly. "It was awe-inspiring."

"Look, Charlie," Jeff started with a wary tone to his voice. "I get this whole sibling rivalry thing, I really do. Matt and I go through it all the time. But just don't be too hard on her."

"I'll try..."

"Charlotte," he stated sternly.

Jeff was truly the only person that'd she listen to. In all honesty, she didn't even listen to Vince anymore, but manged to take into consideration the words of her... well, something.

The younger Hardy's position in her life wasn't really titled.

Sure, she'd spent a sex-less night in his room, comforted him after his fiancee dumped him, moved in with him and his brother after he'd gotten suspended and his house burned down, stayed at Matt's because he'd all but begged her to, revealed all of her deepest, darkest secrets for the sake of her sanity, and even kissed him once.

Not to mention that tiny, little, itty-bitty piece of info running around in her brain... that said that she was in love with Jeff Hardy, her almost-but-not-quite-yet-boyfriend.

He hadn't even asked her out yet. And she was never going to make the first move.

"Okay, I won't be too hard..." she rolled her eyes. "But I'm not going to lose."

Jeff laughed, "I never expected you to. Listen, Char... I have to hit the road tomorrow, so I need to get sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Charlotte smiled wickedly at his words, "Tomorrow..."

Almost immediately following her departing word, she pressed the end button on her cell phone.

"... Is going to be a good day."

* * *

At first, Cody Runnels was convinced this woman was a liar, a cheater, a fraud, a fake... and every other word that involved scamming in the entire dictionary.

But frauds can't exactly come up with the fact that a guy had his first wet dream about his sister-in-law when he was eleven.

So after Sabrina revealed that little factoid about his life, Cody was more than willing to cough up the ten bucks.

"You're very unsure of where your relationship is going right now," Sabrina surmised, her eyes shut lightly. "Especially, since you work together. You don't know if you can be supportive enough of her career, while dedicating yourself to your own."

"Exactly," he sighed.

"Hmm..." she trailed off and then found an answer she was looking for. "And while your family seems to like her, you aren't confident enough to make that big of a commitment yet. After all, you're only twenty-three."

Now she was scaring him completely.

"Uh... yeah."

"Well, Cody..." Sabrina opened her eyes. "I can't tell you if she's your soulmate or not. The spirits of the future cannot reveal to me whether or not your girlfriend is her. But I am getting a hospital name..."

His eyes clouded with confusion, "A hospital name?"

"Yes, yes... St. Joseph's Hospital. Your soulmate was born in St. Joseph's hospital," she responded and then her eyes popped open. "I'm sorry, dear... but that's all I can see right now. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you."

"It's alright," he managed a smile. "You gave me plenty of information. I appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure, Cody. Please stop by again the next time you visit this town, it'd be nice to see you again," she grinned warmly at him, almost grandmotherly, and extended a hand.

"Thank you again," he shook it and began to pull away, but she latched onto him with her hand.

"Wait.. wait! I am getting a letter of her first name!"

"That's great! What is it?"

"The girl..." her eyes closed tightly, almost on the brink of squinting. "Her name starts with a B..."

"B?" Cody's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure it's not an R?"

If at all possible, Sabrina's eyes clenched tighter and then burst open, "Yes. It's a B. I'm sorry it's not the letter you're looking for."

"You can sense my disappointment?"

"Honey, it doesn't take any gift to see it in your eyes."

* * *

As Cody dejectedly exited Madame Sabrina's tent, he heard a voice call out to him, "Cody!"

His eyes squinted to see the man running towards him and soon, he recognized him, "Ted?"

"Where have you been, man?" Ted stopped in front of him, slightly out of breath. "I've been looking for you everywhere for like thirty minutes now."

"I did a little... exploring," he shrugged. "Ted, can we go back to the hotel now? Suddenly, I don't feel so good."

Ted nodded, "I've suppose that I've subjected you to enough happiness for one day. Let's roll."

* * *

For the following four hours after they'd gotten back to the hotel, Cody had laid awake on his side of the bed, the right side of the bed, alone.

And despite the fact that he was wearing a pair of plaid blue boxers, he couldn't help but fixate on the fact that usually, by this time of the night, they were somewhere on the floor and it'd take an hour to find where they had landed the following morning.

On more than one occassion, the hotel they were staying at had taken the liberty of mailing them to his house in Georgia after recovering them way past check-out time.

While they were currently fighting, Cody couldn't avoid feeling disappointment in the fact that his soulmate wasn't Rebecca West. He really wanted her to be the one.

Maybe Sabrina wasn't right... after all, she had been right about everything before that. She had to be wrong about _something_, right?

_I can change it... I can change it._

It was like a mantra in his head. Over and over he repeated it.

Again and again as he waited up for her, despite the fact that she had specifically instructed him not to.

He was going to prove Becky wrong... and more importantly, he was going to prove Sabrina wrong.

* * *

"He's what?!"

"You heard me," Ted assured her from the dining room of the hotel, where all the superstars were getting breakfast. "He's been up all night, waiting for you to come home."

"He's an idiot," Becky shook her head in disgust, her black tresses falling around her. "I told him not to."

"He's your boyfriend," the older friend eyed her, "And he loves you. Look Becky," Ted sighed and sat down beside her in a folding chair. "He's not going to sleep until you come back to the room. And I know you're pissed at him, but I also know that you love him too. So please, before he makes himself sick, just go and see him."

Becky groaned, "Fine. But I'm just showing up so he'll go to sleep."

"Thank you, that's all I ask."

* * *

Cody Runnels was losing it.

The world was starting to blur in and out, his eyelids were heavy, and his eyes were burning.

But he had to do this. He had to prove to Rebecca West that he could do this.

And then it seemed as though his ears were starting to play tricks on him, as well.

Yet, he heard the sound again.

Knocking. It sounded like knocking.

"It _is_ knocking," he announced to no one in particular. "Great, now I'm talking to myself too."

Weakly, he rose from the bed and pulled open the door.

"I'm here, you proved your point, now go to sleep. Bye," she departed abruptly.

"Becky," he called out to her, his voice raspy from lack of sleep. "Wait, come back."

She turned around folded her arms over her chest. "What is it, Runnels?"

"I'm sorry, baby," he apologized, taking her hands in his. "I was stupid and self-centered. I shouldn't have put you second to my title. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten a shot at all. I've been an asshole lately, especially last night..."

"Tell me about it," she rolled her eyes and pushed past him into the room, sitting on the bed.

She voluntarily entered the room. That had to be a good sign.

"Really," Cody sighed and sat down beside her, but she didn't flinch. Another good sign. "I have been. I've been turning into my character with every passing day, but that's over now. I'm back to the guy you first kissed in the snow."

"As I recall it, you kissed me," she let out a momentary laugh.

Laughter was good too.

"You're right," he conceded. "I kissed you. I'm still that guy, sweetheart," Cody added, covering the hand resting on her left thigh and thumbing the ring that laid upon it. "The guy that gave you this ring... and the guy that will only let you take it off to replace it with an engagement ring."

Becky pulled her hand away, "Cody Garrett Runnels... are you telling me you want to marry me?"

He grinned boyishly, his aqua orbs lighting up, "I mean, not right now, but someday in the near future."

"Cody," she beamed at him honestly for the first time in months. "Baby, I'm so sorry. I love you. I was just so overwhelmed... and it was just a bad time."

"Shh..." he silenced her and then placed his lips upon hers for added effect, but pulled away a few moments later. "Just promise me one thing?"

Her eyes fluttered open, "What is it?"

"We'll never go anywhere near St. Joseph's Hospital, wherever that is... _ever_."

"I guess that's okay," the Diva shrugged in confusion. "I mean, I haven't been there in a _very_ long time, so I'm pretty sure I'd be okay without visiting there for the rest of my life."

Cody furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you talking about?"

"Cody," his girlfriend let an amused chuckle escape her lips, "I was born there."

The twenty-three year old began to nod slowly and a grin spread equally as slowly across his face, "You were born there."

"Yeah... I was."

"Listen, I have to use the bathroom," he stated, turning towards her. "But we'll pick up where we left off?"

"Um... okay."

Cody got back to his feet, suddenly invigorated, and entered the bathroom, immediately shutting the door behind him.

He shook his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

_B... B is for Becky._

And the grin that had been plaguing him for the last five minutes rose to the surface again.

He couldn't believe that he had questioned what he'd been feeling in the depths of his soul all along.

"My soulmate's from Wisconsin."

* * *

**A/N: How was that one, Miss Becky?**

**And thanks to SunnyLee... because if it wasn't for her conversation with a Mr. Ted DiBiase, Jr. and a Mr. Cody Runnels, this chapter would have never occurred.**

**Thanks for all of the reviews from the last chapter. I'm having loading issues with my internet at school. It took me forever to get on FF tonight, but hopefully they'll be resolved.**

**I'll mention all of you loyal readers from 13 and 14 next chaper.**

**Enjoy!**

**Danielle**


	15. Ruthless

As Cody opened the door to the bedroom of his house, Becky quickly surveyed the damage.

"Jesus Christ, Cody!" she sighed. "Is it necessary to keep your house like a pig-pen the very moment I am not here?"

"Not really," he shook his head and dropped his suitcase onto the bed. "Only when I'm lazy."

The emerald-eyed Diva let out a small chuckle and began to unpack her own things from the suitcase on the floor.

It was now September and it was getting to that point that half the country was cooling down, while the south was staying warm. However, for the next two months, they'd be on the upper east coast and Midwest, meaning it was going to be cold.

"Before we leave, you have to swap some of your warm weather clothes with your cool weather clothes. It's getting pretty damn cold," Becky reminded him as she placed the last of her tee-shirts in a drawer opposite the bed.

Cody opened his mouth to speak, but Becky cut him off before he could get any words out.

"And before we leave, remind me to change the sheets."

The native Georgian nodded. "Alr-"

"Because I have a feeling that you never change them when you're home by yourself," she interred yet again.

And just as Cody was finally about to speak, the doorbell rang.

"Oh," Becky said as she scrunched her nose. "I wonder who that could be… I'll get it."

As he watched his girlfriend retreat from the room, Cody feigned agreement. "Sure, you go do that, Becky. I'll just finish up here… with whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing."

Becky looked around the house and surveyed the damage.

She had spent two hours tidying up before they unpacked and now it was back to looking like a bomb went off in the den.

There were beer bottles everywhere and red Solo cups littered the navy carpet and cream-colored tile in the kitchen.

"Ugh, Cody…" Becky whined, picking up and empty bottle of Smirnoff Ice and dropping it off into the sink. "Why did you have to let the animals drink?"

"Jim and PJ are not animals!" Cody protested in his tipsy state. "I'm the animal!" he proclaimed in a slight slur, pounding his chest.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Rrrright, King of the Marietta Jungle."

"I am!" he stood up from the couch, staggering on his feet.

"Sure you are, Codes," the raven-haired Diva laughed, tossing empty cans into the black plastic garbage bag in her hand.

"Meanie."

Becky put a hand on her hip. "If you're gonna act like that, you're only going to be the Prince of the Marietta Jungle."

Cody took a swig of the only full beer on the coffee table. "No! I'm the king… and you can call me… King Cody!"

She rolled her emerald eyes and trudged through the debris to her boyfriend at the coffee table.

Becky reached for a cork circle on the table and threw it at him. "And these are called coasters."

"Alright, Rebecca…" Cody added regally. "That will be all."

The young woman grit her teeth and turned around.

"God help me."

"Charlie, you really should learn how to play better with others."

The blonde Diva whipped around backstage and found herself face to chest with Randy Orton.

"Since when are my family issues your business? And speaking of playing, don't you have a kid or something to amuse yourself with?" she retorted icily.

Clearly, her sister was a touchy subject at the moment.

"Don't you have Rainbow Brite to play with?" the sapphire-eyed man countered.

Her stare hardened. "None of your fucking business, Orton."

"Whoa, whoa…" Randy held up his hands. "I was just joking, Charlie. What's gotten into you?"

"I-I-I don't know, Randy. I'm sorry," she apologized and then sank down into her chair.

"Is everything okay?"

"I forgot that you've been injured, allow me to recap…" she stated and then cleared her throat. "Jeff got suspended, his house burnt down with his dog inside, and his fiancée, Beth, left him. When he left, I went with him. My sister took my spot in Vince's favor before I left and took over my number one contendership. Now, I'm back to reclaim that favor and contendership, then the title."

He nodded slowly. "Okay…"

"You never were good with words, were you, Orton?"

"Well, you know me…" he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "And what's with this Orton crap? Is there something wrong with my first name?"

"Other than the fact that you were named after your uncle, no."

"Nice, Charlie," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Randy, I know this is going to sound crazy…" the statuesque blonde sighed, her blue eyes darting towards the floor and back up again. "But do you think I could ask your opinion on something?"

Randy quickly grew hesitant. "I mean, I don't mind, Charlie… but I don't think that I should really serve as the moral compass for your life, or anyone's life for that matter."

"How'd you do it?" she asked him abruptly.

"Do what?"

The blonde chewed on her bottom lip. "Turn your life around… learn to love someone on a basis that isn't purely physical and avoid any inclination to do otherwise?"

The Missouri-native with deep blue eyes let out a rumbling chuckle, "That's a loaded question."

"Do you have an answer?" she questioned him rather impatiently.

"Well, with Sam… I guess that I just found the person that _made_ me want to change. Why?" he inquired, sitting down beside her and resting his hands on his knees as he looked over at her. "Did you find someone, Charlie?"

The Diva avoided his gaze, prompting a smile to slowly spread across the Legend Killer's face.

"Charlotte," he spoke softly. "You found Jeff, didn't you?"

The woman in her middle twenties nodded wordlessly.

"Don't get mad at me for asking this, okay, but did you sleep with him yet?"

"No," she responded with a shake of her head. "I haven't… but it doesn't mean that I don't want to."

"You're just afraid that if you do, it'll be a step in the wrong direction," he surmised with a knowing nod. "Listen… if you really like Jeff, just be yourself. Take things slow… but if things feel right, I mean… you're two adults. Don't worry about him not making a move yet… he's healing. Trust me, Charlie, there's nothing wrong with that… and there's nothing wrong with you."

"I was wrong," she stated suddenly.

Randy tilted his head to the side and eyed her intently. "About what?"

"You are good with words."

"This next match is the first of a best two our of three match series for the number one contendership for the Women's Title! Making her way to the ring, from Green Bay, Wisconsin…" Lillian Garcia's voice boomed around the Ohio arena. "Becky West!"

In a pair of black PVC pants and a red tank with black lacing up the sides, Becky walked to the ring, slapping hands with a few of the fans down the ramp.

With ease, she slid through the ropes and stood up, jumping around a little bit to warm herself up.

Moments later, pink and purple lights flashed around the arena and a statuesque blonde appeared at the top of the ramp.

"And making her way to the ring, also from Green Bay, Wisconsin… Charlie West!"

The older West sister strutted down the ramp in a pair of turquoise PVC shorts and a matching bra-top, making sure to bend low as she slipped through the red rows.

"Come on, RE-BE-CCA," Charlie taunted her, tightening her headlock. "You know you want to tap… you can't fight me. You can't win. Just give up."

As her neck was being wrenched, her sister cutting off her airway, Becky felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness.

Maybe she should give up. After all, this was only one match of three and there were still two to go. Clearly, she'd been too focused on her personal life over her career.

In an instant, Becky West wished she had trained more because it would have allowed her to top her sister, for once in her life.

And then it dawned on her, she could.

With every ounce of strength she had in her body, Becky pushed forward, taking Charlie with her.

The raven-haired Diva thrust her feet at the middle rope, pushing off and backflipping over the blonde's shoulder.

While the former-Golden Girl of the WWE had her back turned, Becky reached out and slammed her backwards, rolling her up in the center of the ring.

And then she held on for dear life.

"Nice one, West," Ted smiled at Becky as she entered their locker room.

"You did it! You did it! You did it!" Cody exclaimed brightly, wrapping his arms around her smaller frame. "I am so proud of you, Becks."

Still weak from the battle with Charlie, her arms bent around his back loosely. "Thank you."

"Good job, Becky," a male voice added from the doorway.

Becky let go of Cody and stared over at the door, catching sight of the man she did not expect to see at all that night.

"Um… thanks, Jeff," her emerald gaze flitted down to her black wrestling boots.

Ted, taking notice of the slight awkwardness in the room, looked over at his friend and tag-team partner. "Come on, Cody. Let's go grab something to eat in catering… we've only got an hour before our match starts."

"But I wanted to celebrate…" the blue-eyed Georgian protested.

His partner laughed as he shuffled him out the door, "Oh, stop complaining. You couldn't celebrate with me here anywhere… unless you wanted to pay for therapy for me for the next thirty years."

And as their voices faded into the hallway, Becky came face to face with Jeff Hardy.

**A/N: There you go, Becks. Your turn…**

**For those of you who are wondering what is going on when we do this back and forth thing… I write something and Becky writes something. When I write, she writes and vice versa.**

**My story features her, obviously, and her story, Whiplash, features me.**

**It's a Batista/OC pairing. Or rather, a Batista/Danielle pairing.**

**See, Becky… I even plugged you!!!!**


	16. Not Falling Apart

"You."

"Yes," Jeff eyed her with amusement. "Me."

Her raven hair followed her head as it shook slowly. "You're not supposed to be here."

"I'm not?" he asked with surprise.

"No."

"Why not?" he continued to question as if they were playing a game, one Becky didn't understand at all.

"Because you're friends with my sister," Becky replied matter of factly.

Jeff laughed, his green eyes sparkling with lightheartedness. "And that means I can't be friends with you, too?"

The Diva shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you won't be, for now. I mean, eventually, you will be. But no, not at the same time."

"I will say this about Charlotte, she does make more sense than you some times," he continued to laugh.

"Do you _really_ want to have this conversation with me?" Becky arched an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips. "Because it's not exactly one _I_ want to have with _you_ right now."

"Considering the fact that I have zero idea what you're talking about right now, yes. I do want to have this conversation with you."

The Wisconsin-born woman sighed, "I was afraid you would say that."

Now the usually-enigmatic Jeff Hardy was puzzled. "Care to explain?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Jeff thought it over for a minute and then shook his head decisively. "No, not really."

"Damn."

* * *

"SHIT!" Charlie shrieked, throwing a collapsible chair from her dressing room across the floor. "FUCK!"

She wasn't supposed to lose to Rebecca West, her own sister, her natural-born rival. She was supposed to make an example out of her.

Instead, she had failed. She had done exactly what she hadn't wanted to: put herself in a hole.

The door ripped open and a very annoyed John Cena walked into the room. "Can you seriously keep it the fuck down in here?"

Her head whipped around and a scowl quickly made an appearance on her face as she recognized the man in her midst. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you… it appears as though your head is too far UP VINCE MCMAHON'S ASS!"

* * *

"Alright…" Becky took a deep breath and sank down into a chair as Jeff closed the door. "You might want to take a seat for this one."

He nodded and sat down in a chair opposite her. "Okay, shoot."

"So, as Charlie's sister, it's suffice to say that I know her better than anyone else does," she began, staring at her hands in her lap. "And I know her games, as well as the effects of those games…"

"Still not following," Jeff stated with a shrug.

She held up a hand to stop him. "Let me finish, okay? Every time, it's the same. Once Charlie sets her sights on a guy, it's only a matter of time before, well… she gets him."

"Riiiiight…"

"I'm sure you've seen it, Jeff," the raven-haired wrestler looked up at him. "Randy, John, Ken… your own brother. They're her golden boy for a few weeks and then she moves on. And after all is said and done, they hate her."

The southerner took a few moments to contemplate this thought. "Where do you fit into all of this?"

Becky's lips contorted involuntarily. "When it starts, they all hate me too."

"But you're cool with Randy and Ken… and you tolerate Cena," he pointed out, scratching his head.

* * *

"Wow," John sniped at her. "Blondie has a brain."

The older West sister snarled, "You certainly didn't care if I had a brain when you f-"

"That's because I didn't have to hear you talk at the time," he cut her off with a cocky grin. "Now that you're mouth is unoccupied, I do."

Charlie's eyebrows formed a deep v as she stormed towards him. "You son of a-"

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

She retorted icily, "I kissed you with this mouth."

John smirked triumphantly. "Do you kiss Hardy with the same mouth?"

* * *

"_Now_, " she agreed with a nod. "But when they first were with her, I was just the annoying little sister in the room that was keeping them from scoring at that moment."

"And after?"

"When she gets tired of them…" Becky sighed heavily and locked eyes with him, emerald latching onto jade. "Well, that's when they become friends with me. Because they think I'm the nice one."

Jeff thought her statement over for a minute. "Okay, why are you telling _me_ this?"

"Because I don't want you to wind up like them, Jeff."

* * *

Charlie's normally-solid front faltered. How could he possibly know?

"Excuse me?" she challenged him, trying to regain her composure.

If possible, the Massachusetts-born wrestler smirked even wider. "You know, there was a time you were pretty secretive about who you were screwing, West. You've gotten sloppy."

The blonde's sapphire eyes began to blaze. "You really think that _I_ give a damn what _you_ think about whom I choose to spend my time with?"

"Judging by the look on your face…" John crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, I do."

Her jaw locked in place. "Get out."

"Fine," John replied, holding his hands up in mock defeat. "Just tell Jeff that I can't wait until he joins the rest of us in the club. We've been looking for new members."

"You're such an asshole, Cena." Charlie dug a heel into the ground, rage causing her body to shake.

John laughed as he pulled open the door then turned to face her once more. "I'd rather be an asshole than a whore."

Blinded by her fury, the statuesque blonde reached for the vase of flowers on the table in the corner and threw it at him.

But John had already shut the door and disappeared, long before the glass could crash against the metal and the shattered pieces of glass rained onto the floor.

* * *

The southerner laughed in sheer amusement at the young woman.

Yet Becky West was not nearly as amused at Jeff Hardy. She knew Charlie. Really, _really_ knew her… better than anyone, better than Jeff.

And her sister had taken a liking to Jeff. Albeit, she had changed her routine around a little bit this time. But end result would be the same.

And there would be one more member of the "I Hate Charlotte West" Club…

And his name was Jeff Hardy.

"You're both broken, can't you see that?" Becky shook her head incredulously. "Damaged goods. You think you can fix her? Fine, go for it. But Charlie doesn't _want_ to be fixed, Jeff. Maybe she wants to mold you into whatever she wants you to be. Maybe you're her new pet project. I don't know," the raven-haired Diva's tirade continued as she slung her bag back onto her shoulder and headed for the door. "But one day, and one day very soon, you're going to look back at this moment and think about what I said. And you're going to realize that I was right because if you had only listened to me, you wouldn't be damaged beyond repair. At least, at this very moment, you have a shot at being whole again."

Angrily she whipped the door open and slammed it shut behind her, all the while shaking her head at how stupid Jeff was being.

As Becky made her way down the hall to the parking area, she decided that if he was going to ignore her good advice and believe he would be the exception to the rule, than she would do the same.

And that meant that, when push came to shove, Jeff Hardy was on his own.

* * *

The parking lot was relatively still full by the time Becky arrived. Most likely, the upper card talents were sticking around for their matches or others were just hanging out. Sometimes, she and Cody would do the same, but all she wanted to do tonight was go home.

As the raven-haired twenty-two year old readjusted the bag on her shoulder, her emerald orbs caught sight of her boyfriend leaning against his rental car.

"Where's Ted?" she asked him, slowing her pace as she approached the car.

"He caught a ride home with a few of the guys," Cody replied as he opened the back door, taking the bag from her hands and placing it inside the car. "Are you alright?"

Becky nodded weakly and he slid his arms around her, pressing her into his chest.

"I'm okay," she tried to assure him. "Really, I am."

He brushed his warm lips against her temple. "You don't need to tell me what was said in there. I know, whatever it was, it couldn't have been easy for you. But if you want to talk about it at all, it's okay. We can talk about it."

The Diva shook her head. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. Maybe later."

Cody nodded and let her pull back a few inches from his body. "Whenever you want, just let me know. I realize that when you've got things like this on your mind, you can't sleep at night."

"How'd you know that?" she asked him quizzically.

"I feel you tossing and turning in bed, sweetheart," he answered her, running his hand along her cheek.

"I'll wait until you wake up tomorrow morning. Maybe we can talk about it over breakfast. I just need to sleep this off… or at least try."

"Fine," Cody agreed, his sapphire eyes studying her emerald ones. "But if you can't sleep, we can talk about it then instead."

Becky shook her head and Cody eyed her.

"Why not?"

"Because you'll be sleeping," Becky pointed out.

"Easy solution," the Georgian smiled at her lovingly, kissing her forehead. "You can wake me up. I promise you, Becks. You can tell me anything… whether it's ten a.m. or ten p.m., whether I'm asleep or awake. There is never a time when you're going to need me and I won't be there."

Her slightly watery eyes locked onto his own. "You promise?"

Cody nodded and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I promise."

* * *

**A/N: Becks, I know you've been waiting and you did such a great job tonight, as I have heard, that I HAD to give this to you!**

**Everyone else, read and review please!!!**

**Danielle**


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